Profiles of new ministers to be inducted into cabinet

Here are the profiles of the nine new ministers who are all set to take oath as ministers in Narendra Modi's cabinet tomorrow:

1.Anantkumar Hegde: A five-term Lok Sabha member, Hegde represents Uttara Kannada constituency of Karnataka. He has been actively involved in the field of rural development. During his multiple stints in Parliament -- the first at the age of 28 -- Hegde has been a member of several Parliamentary Standing Committees including Finance, Home Affairs, Human Resource Development, Commerce, Agriculture and External Affairs. He has also been a member of the Spices Board of India for 4 terms. Hegde is also the Founder President of Kadamba, an NGO working in the field of rural development, rural health, SHGs, rural marketing and other rural welfare programmes. He is a practitioner of Tae-kwon-do, a Korean Martial Art.

2. Ashwini Kumar Choubey: A Lok Sabha member from Buxar in Bihar, Choubey has held important portfolios such as Health, Urban Development as a cabinet minister in the state.
He was part of the JP movement and has helped construct 11,000 toilets for Mahadalit families. Choubey is a Zoology graduate and has a special interest in yoga.

3. Virendra Kumar: A six-term Lok Sabha member from Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Kumar comes from the scheduled castes and has worked in building orphanages and schools for the physically-challenged as well as old-age homes. He has a masters degree in Economics and a PhD in Child Labour.

4.Shiv Pratap Shukla: Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh, Shukla has been associated with the JP movement and jailed during Emergency. A four-term MLA in the UP assembly, Shukla was also a cabinet minister for 8 years in the state. Shukla is a Law Graduate and is known for his work in rural development, education and prison reforms.

5. Raj Kumar Singh: A former Union Home Secretary, Singh is a first-term Lok Sabha member from Arrah in Bihar. A 1975 batch IAS officer, Singh made key contributions to the sectors of police and prison modernisation and laying down the framework of disaster management.

6. Hardeep Singh Puri: A career diplomat, Puri was the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. He is known was his experience and expertise in foreign policy and national security. An alumnus of The Hindu College, Delhi University, Puri was a student leader and active during the JP movement. He briefly taught at St. Stephens College before joining the Indian Foreign Service.

7. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: A first-term Lok Sabha member from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, Shekhawat is known as a progressive farmer. The 49-year-old leader has been associated with the ABVP since his student days. He was also the co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and is known for his work in developing towns and village along the border in Rajasthan. A sports enthusiast, Shekhawat is a Member of the All India Council of Sports and the President of Basketball India Players Association. He has a MPhil & MA in Philosophy.

8. Satya Pal Singh: A former Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Singh is a first-term Lok Sabha member from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. A 1980 batch IPS officer, he is credited with breaking the backbone of organised crime syndicates in Mumbai in the 1990s. A scholar of Vedic studies and Sanskrit, Singh regularly delivers lectures on spirituality, religious harmony and corruption. He holds MSc and MPhil degrees in Chemistry, MBA in Strategic Management from Australia, MA in Public Administration as well as a PhD in Naxalism.

9. Alphons Kannanthanam:  A former IAS officer, Alphons was known as Delhi's Demolition Man when he was Commissioner of the Delhi Development Authority, having cleared DDA areas of encroachment removing around 15,000 illegal buildings. Alphons retired from the IAS, to get elected as an Independent Member of Kerala Legislative Assembly in 2006.He was also considered for the post of Administrator of the Union Territory of Chandigarh, but the plan had to be dropped following a political controversy.