Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was born in the year 1958 on 15th of August in the Pauri district of Garhwal Himalayas in a village called Pinani. His father is Mr. Parmanand Pokhriyal and mother is Smt. Moti Bishambhari Pokhriyal. He comes from a poor family but was very intelligent since childhood. Extensive social work, reading and writing became an integral part of his life. He represents the Bharatiya Janata party and is the fifth chief minister of Uttarakhand.

Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is a journalist by profession. In the year 1991 he was elected as a M.L.A. to the Vidhan sabha of Uttar Pradesh from the Karnaprayag constituency. In the year 1993 and 1996 he was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from the Karnaprayag constituency. Dr. Pokhriyal Nishank became the Minister for Uttaranchal Development in the Uttar Pradesh state government in 1997. He lost the Uttaranchal Vidhan Sabha election from Thalisain constituency in 2002 but he was elected from the same constituency to the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha in 2007.

During the creation of Uttaranchal Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank became the minister of Uttaranchal under the Uttar Pradesh government. Prior to this he had been the Cabinet Minister in the ministry of health, family welfare, language, science and technology. On June 27th 2009 Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank took oath as the fifth chief minister of Uttarakhand.