Dave had not been keeping well for the last few months. He complained of uneasiness at his home this morning and was rushed to AIIMS where he passed away.
Science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan will now hold additional charge of the environment ministry.
He took charge as Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge), in New Delhi on July 6, 2016.
He hailed from Madhya Pradesh.
The minister was elected to the Rajya Sabha in August 2009.
At the time, he was appointed member, Committee on Water Resources. He was also on the consultative committee for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
From March to June 2010, Dave was a member of the Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change.
Born in Barnagar in Madhya Pradesh, Dave was a Rashtriya Swyamsewak Sangh (RSS) member since childhood.
His first major political assignment was as an adviser to then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti in 2004.
As environment minister, Dave had speeded up the approval of India’s first river-linking project Ken-Betwa falling in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) gave its conditional principle approval to the project that will submerge one-third of Panna tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh and will irrigate 6.35 lakh hectares of land in drought- prone Bundelkhand.
Dave took several policy initiatives, including delegating power to give environment clearance to building projects to the state governments and time-bound approval to projects.
He pushed approval for genetically modified Mustard which was stalled for the last two years. The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) last week recommended to the government its commercial release.
