Birender Singh (politician)

Birender Singh
Minister of Steel
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 July 2016
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Narendra Singh Tomar
Minister of Panchayati Raj
In office 9 November 2014 – 5 July 2016
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Nitin Gadkari
Succeeded by	Narendra Singh Tomar
Minister of Rural Development
In office 9 November 2014 – 5 July 2016
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Nitin Gadkari
Succeeded by	Narendra Singh Tomar
Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation
In office 9 November 2014 – 5 July 2016
Prime Minister	Narendra Modi
Preceded by	Nitin Gadkari
Succeeded by	Narendra Singh Tomar
MP of Rajya Sabha for Haryana
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 November 2014, re-elected from 1 August 2016
Preceded by	himself but representing INC
Personal details
Political party	BJP
Other political affiliations	Indian National Congress (before 2014)
Spouse(s)	Premlata Singh

Chaudhary Birender Singh (born 25 March 1946) is a senior Indian political leader. He is currently serving as the Union Minister of Steel. He previously served as Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation & Drinking Water in the Narendra Modi led NDA Government in India.

Birender Singh is the grandson of great peasant leader Sir Chhotu Ram. His father Ch. Neki Ram was a politician in joint Punjab. After being associated with the Indian National Congress for over 42 long years, Ch. Birender Singh declared joining the Bharatiya Janata Party on 16 August 2014 in a political rally organised in Jind, Haryana in the presence of President of the BJP, Amit Shah.^[1]

Birender Singh joined Bharatiya Janata Party on 29 August 2014, after tendering his resignation from the membership of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India on 28 August 2014.

Early life

Singh comes from a socially, politically and economically influential family. His grandfather Sir Chhotu Ram was an iconic Jat and peasant leader in India and Pakistan.^[2] He graduated from Government College Rohtak and completed his law degree at Panjab University, Chandigarh. During this development, Singh was active in sports, captaining the distt. Jind cricket team 1964–67 and playing with Punjab University Team (1969–70).

Birender Singh married PremLata Singh on 9 June 1970. PremLata Singh is a member of the legislative assembly (MLA) of Haryana representing Uchana Kalan constituency.

Political life

Birender Singh contested his first election in 1972 & from 1972–77, he was the Chairman, Block Samiti Uchana. He contested the legislative assembly election in 1977 from uchana on Indian National Congress ticket and won the seat with a sizeable margin, despite strong anti-congress wave in the country. This made him a star political figure in India overnight.

Birender Singh has been a five times legislator for Haryana from Uchana constituency (1977–82, 1982–84, 1994–96, 1996-2000 and 2005–09) and served three terms a Cabinet Minister in Haryana.

Ch. Birender Singh has also served the country as a Parliamentarian 3 times. In 1984, Ch. Birender Singh was elected as Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from Hissar Constituency, after defeating Om Prakash Chautala by a giant margin. In 2010, Birender Singh was elected as Congress MP Rajya Sabha from Haryana for a 6 years term (2010–16), but he resigned on 28 August 2014, a day before ending his 42 years old association with Indian National Congress.

On 29 August 2014, Birender Singh joined Bharatiya Janata Party. On 9th, November 2014, Ch. Birender Singh took oath as a Cabinet Minister, Govt. Of India. He was given the charge of the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

His third reelection to Rajya Sabha happened on 11 June 2016 for a six-year term (2016-2022).

On 5 July 2016, during the second cabinet reshuffle of the Narendra Modi ministry, Chaudhary Birender Singh replaced Narendra Singh Tomar as the Steel Minister.^[3]

Positions held

Singh has held numerous key positions. He was Chairman, Govt. Assurances Committee (1978–79) and Chairman, Estimates Committee (1981–82), Haryana.

He has also served on the Estimates Committee (1985–87) & Consultative Committee for ministry of Defense (1987–89) and Consultative Committee for Ministry of Energy (1987–91), Government of India.

Birender Singh served the chairman, Standing Committee of Parliament on Human Resource, Women & Child Development, Youth & Sports ministry from Sept 2013 to April 2014.

On the political front, Birender Singh has been entrusted with many key responsibilities. He was made the President of HPCC in 1990 and led congress to a landslide victory in 1991. In 2014, he was made the general secretary of AICC in charge of poll-bound states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Ch. Birender Singh led the party to victory in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh elections, which were fought under his guidance.

As of today, Ch. Birender Singh is a cabinet minister ( Steel ) in the Narendra Modi Government.

References

Modi ministry
Prime Minister: Narendra Modi
Cabinet Ministers Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Radha Mohan Singh Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley Defence Arun Jaitley Drinking Water and Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad External Affairs Sushma Swaraj Finance Arun Jaitley Food Processing Industry Harsimrat Kaur Badal Health and Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises Anant Geete Home Affairs Rajnath Singh Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Narendra Singh Tomar Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra Overseas Indian Affairs Sushma Swaraj Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Narendra Modi Railways Suresh Prabhu Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot Space Narendra Modi Statistics and Programme Implementation D. V. Sadananda Gowda Steel Ch. Birender Singh Shipping and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari Textiles Smriti Irani Tribal Affairs Jual Oram Urban Development Narendra Singh Tomar Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi
Ministers of State (Independent Charge) AYUSH Shripad Yasso Naik Coal Piyush Goyal Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman Communications Manoj Sinha Culture Mahesh Sharma Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh Environment, Forest and Climate Change Harsh Vardhan Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya Mines Piyush Goyal Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal Planning Rao Inderjit Singh Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy Tourism Mahesh Sharma Youth Affairs and Sports Vijay Goel
Ministers of State Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parsottambhai Rupala S. S. Ahluwalia Sudarshan Bhagat Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh Chemicals and Fertilizers Mansukh L. Mandaviya Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Disturbution Chhotu Ram Chaudhary Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal Defence Subhash Ramrao Bhamre Drinking Water and Sanitation Ramesh Jigajinagi Earth Sciences Y. S. Chowdary Electronics and IT P. P. Choudhary External Affairs M. J. Akbar V. K. Singh Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal Santosh Gangwar Food Processing Industry Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel Faggan Singh Kulaste Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises G. M. Siddeshwara Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir Kiren Rijiju Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Babul Supriyo Rao Inderjit Singh Human Resource Development Mahendra Nath Pandey Upendra Kushwaha Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Law and Justice P P Choudhary Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary Giriraj Singh Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Overseas Indian Affairs V. K. Singh Panchayati Raj Parsottambhai Rupala Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi S. S. Ahluwalia Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh Railways Manoj Sinha Rajen Gohain Road Transport and Highways Mansukh L. Mandaviya Pon Radhakrishnan Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav Science and Technology Y. S. Chowdary Social Justice and Empowerment Krishna Pal Ramdas Athawale Vijay Sampla Steel Vishnudeo Sai Shipping Mansukh L. Mandaviya Pon Radhakrishnan Space Jitendra Singh Textiles Ajay Tamta Tribal Affairs Jasvantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sanjeev Balyan Vijay Goel Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi Urban Development Babul Supriyo Rao Inderjit Singh

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