Hardeep Singh Puri

Hardeep Singh Puri is an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who had served as the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. He is currently Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in the second Narendra Modi government.

Puri had joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974, and during a career spanning 39 years, he had served in senior positions at the Ministries of External Affairs and Defence. He had held Ambassadorial level assignments in London and Brasilia and served as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in Geneva and New York.

PERSONAL LIFE:

Puri was born on February 15, 1952 in Delhi to Bhagat Singh Puri and Kundan Puri. His father was a diplomat who served in different countries and Puri studied at a boarding school in India. His brother Pradeep Puri is a 1979 batch retired IAS officer. He completed his studies from Hindu College, University of Delhi from where he earned a Master of Arts in History degree.

He is married to Lakshmi Singh Puri, who is currently Assistant Secretary-General for Intergovernmental Support and Strategic Partnerships at the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and together they have two daughters.

BEFORE POLITICS:

Puri had served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs from 1994 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2002, and then in the Ministry of Defence from 1997 to 1999. He also served as Secretary to the Government of India (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs from 2008 to 2009. He then served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations in New York on May 4, 2009.

He was President of the United Nations Security Council in August 2011 and November 2012, and had also served as Chairman of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee from January 2011 to February 2013.

He retired from the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) on February 28, 2013 and joined the International Peace Institute (IPI), a non-profit think tank with headquarters in New York and offices in Vienna and Manam, in the same year. He was Vice President of International Peace Institute and Secretary-General of Independent Commission on Multilateralism in New York. He left the IPI on March 31, 2016.

POLITICAL CAREER:

Puri joined the BJP in 2014, and in May 2019 he was appointed Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

OTHERS:

He is an accomplished writer and has published a number of books, among them, Perilous Interventions: The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos and Delusional Politics: Back To The Future.

SOCIAL:

Hardeep Singh Puri keeps his followers updated through Facebook - Hardeep Singh Puri/@HardeepSPuri, Twitter - Hardeep Singh Puri/@HardeepSPuri.