2nd time Arrah MP R K Singh becomes minister in Modi 2.0

Bureaucrat-turned politician and second time Lok Sabha member from Arrah in Bihar, R K Singh was inducted into the council of ministers of new Modi government Thursday.

Singh, who was the minister of state for power, and new and renewable energy in the outgoing government, was instrumental in the launch of household electrification scheme Saubhagya that one of the poll planks of Modi government.

According to the power ministry data, around 2.63 crore families were provided electricity connections under the scheme.

Singh also played a major role in scaling up India's renewable energy capacity. India has set an ambitious target of having 175 GW of renewable energy including 100 GW of solar energy and 60 GW of wind energy by 2022. India achieved 78 GW of clean energy including 28GW of solar and 36 GW of wind energy as on April 2019.

Singh joined the Indian Police Service in 1974 and then Indian Administrative Service in 1975. He was District Magistrate of East Champaran from 1981 to 1983 as well as District Magistrate of Patna from 1983 to 1985.

When there were numerous escapes from prison, Singh was posted as Inspector General of Prisons. He was the administrator of the State Cooperative Marketing Federation. He was Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs from 2000 to 2005. He was instrumental in revamping the scheme for police Modernisation and started the scheme for Prison Modernisation.

He also laid down the framework for Disaster Management. He started the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force).

Singh was also principal secretary, Road Construction Department of Bihar from 2006 to 2009 and transformed the road network of the state from being one of the worst in the country to be one of the best in the country.

He joined again the Government of India as Secretary, Department of Defence Production in 2009. As Secretary, Defence Production (2009-2011) ensured that the production from Ordnance Factories, Defence Shipyards, the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and other Defence Manufacturing facilities touched record levels.

Singh has been elected as Lok Sabha MP from Arrah for the second time. He won the seat by a margin of 1,47,285 votes defeating Raju Yadav of CPM in the recent polls.