New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's picks for his Cabinet include former diplomat Hardeep Puri, former Mumbai top cop Satya Pal Singh, former home secretary Raj Kumar Singh and retired IAS officer Alphons Kannanthanam, sources said on Saturday.
While there are likely to be nine total additions, by choosing the four former bureaucrats, Modi is attempting to strike a balance between his agenda of governance – by pugging gaps in competency - and political compulsion – by giving representation to states where the BJP hopes to consolidate or make inroads.
Sources said that all the names have been picked keeping in mind the Prime Minister's 'New India' vision and were selected based on a '4P' formula - passion, proficiency, professional and political acumen.
"The new ministers are going to be strategically placed in key ministries, especially focusing on last mile delivery directly to the people," a source said. “As a part of the restructuring, six incumbent ministers have resigned,” the source said.
The Prime Minister is committed to his vision of a new India, which will be built on the foundations of development and good governance, to further the cause of the poor, marginalised and the deprived segments of the society, the sources said.
The new ministers come from varied walks of life and will bring in rich administrative and governance experience. All are highly qualified, with a number of them having professional as well as PhD degrees, said sources in the government.
Perhaps the most decorated in the list is former IFS officer Hardeep Puri, known for his experience and expertise in foreign policy and national security. In a distinguished four-decade career in diplomacy, he has handled critical roles of Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, Ambassador to Brazil and the United Kingdom and Permanent Representative of India to Geneva.
RK Singh, who is an MP from Bihar, has also served in multiple important roles of responsibility including Defence Production Secretary and Joint Secretary Home; as well as heading Home, Industries, Public Works and Agriculture amongst other departments in the Bihar Government. He is known for his contributions to schemes for Police Modernization and Prison Modernization, and laying down a framework for Disaster Management.
Former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Baghpat, is credited for breaking the backbone of organised crime syndicates in Mumbai in the 1990s. He has also been recognized with medals like the Antrik Suraksha Sewa Padak by Government of India in 2008 and a Special Service Medal for extraordinary work in the Naxalite areas of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 1990.
The last in the list is Alphons Kannanthanam from Kerala, who will be the first from the state to find a place in Team Modi. He became famous 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. This got him listed in Time Magazine's list of 100 Young Global Leaders in 1994.
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