Cabinet Reshuffle: The nine new faces inducted into Modi's Council of Ministers

Below are nine names, as well as brief profiles of each. All are from the ruling BJP.

Shiv Pratap Shukla

Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, Shiv Pratap Shukla, who was imprisoned for 19 months under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act during the Emergency, is also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development.

An LLB from Gorakhpur University, Shukla began his innings in politics early as a student leader in the 1970s.

He was elected the member of the UP Legislative Assembly for four consecutive times in 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996.

Later, he served as a cabinet minister in the UP government for eight years between 1996 and 2002.

During his terms as a cabinet minister in UP he handled the Ministry of Jails and later the Ministery of Rural Development.

He’s known for initiating the education for all scheme in UP that tied ten districts together for the first time and for jail reforms in the state.

Alphons Kannanthanam

Alphons Kannanthanam is more familiar to the people as Delhi’s Demolition Man after he cleared Delhi Development Authority (DDA) areas of encroachment by removing around 15,000 illegal buildings while serving as the Commissioner of DDA during 1992 and 1997.

He reclaimed land worth Rs 10,000 crore belonging to the DDA and is action prompted Time magazine to adjudge him as one of the 100 young global leaders in 1994.

Kannanthanam was born in a non-electrified village, Manimala in Kottayam district of Kerala and later he became an IAS officer of the 1979 batch from the Kerala cadre.

As the District Collector of Kottayam he pioneered the literacy movement in India and made his town the first 100% literate town in India way back in 1989.

A practicing advocate, Kannanthanam, set up an NGO called Janshakti in 1994, that works to develop the ability in citizens to believe in making government accountable to people.

He retired as IAS in 2006 to join politics. Currently, he is a Member of the Committee to prepare the final draft of the National Education Policy 2017.

He has also written a bestselling book named Making a Difference.

Satya Pal Singh

A scholar of Vedic studies and Sanskrit, Satya Pal Singh is a Lok Sabha MP from Baghpat, UP. He was born in Basauli village of Baghpat and has an illustrious career in academia.

Singh has an MSc and MPhil in Chemistry, MBA in Strategic Management from Australia, MA in Public Administration as well as a PhD in Naxalism.

An IPS officer of the 1980 batch of the Maharashtra cadre, Singh has been recognised with medals like the Antrik Suraksha Sewa Padak and a Special Service Medal for extraordinary work in the Naxalite areas of Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in 1990 by the government.

Singh is known for breaking the backbone of organised crime syndicates in Mumbai in the 1990s as the financial capital’s commissioner of police. He also served as the commissioner of Pune and Nagpur police.

He has also written best-selling books, including on topics like tribal conflict resolution and Naxalism.

Hardeep Singh Puri

A decorated former IFS officer of the 1974 batch, Hardeep Puri, has a four decade long distinguished career in diplomacy, foreign policy and national security.

The Delhi-born diplomat was a student leader during his days at the Hindu College and was active during the JP movement.

Puri, as the head of the Indian delegation to the UN Security Council has served as the Chairman of the Counter Terrorism Committee of the UN. He was also appointed the President of the UNSC in August 2011.

He has also served as the ambassador and permanent representative of India to the United Nations, ambassador to Brazil and UK and permanent representative of India to Geneva.

Currently, he is the President and Chairman of a think tank called Research and Information System for developing countries (RIS).

Raj Kumar Singh

Lok Sabha MP from Arrah, Bihar, Raj Kumar Singh is a former IAS officer of the 1975 batch from the Bihar cadre.

Raj Kumar Singh has served in multiple roles and handling responsibilities as Defence Production Secretary and Joint Secretary Home during the NDA government between 1999 and 2004.

He headed Home, Industries, Public Works and Agriculture amongst other departments in the Bihar Government.

Between 2011 and 2013, he rose to the ranks and was entrusted upon the responsibility of the Union Home Secretary of the country.

Currently, he is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committees on Health and Family Welfare, Personnel, Pensions and Public Grievances and Law & Justice.

Raj Kumar Singh studied English Literature at St. Stephens College and got a Bachelors Degree in Law thereafter. He also went on to study at the RVB Delft University in Netherlands.

Virendra Kumar

Six-term Lok Sabha MP, Virendra Kumar is from Tikamgarh, Madhya Praddesh. He was an active participant of the JP movement in the 1970s he went to jails for 16 months under MISA during the Emergency.

Coming from the Scheduled Caste community, Virendra Kumar has been engaging youth in removing the barriers of caste and class and has been working to eliminate child labour.

Apart from these areas he has been involved in building orphanages, schools for the differently abled and old age homes.

Currently, Virendra Kumar is the chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour and has been the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Office of Profit and a Member of National Social Security Board.

Kumar has an MA in Economics and a PhD in Child Labour.

 Anantkumar Hegde

Practitioner of Tae-kwon-do, a Korean martial art, Anantkumar Hegde is a Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada, Karnataka.

He was elected as an MP at a young age of 28 years and since then he is now a fifth term Lok Sabha MP.

He has been a member of multiple Parliamentary Standing Committees including the likes of Finance, Home Affairs, Human Resource Development, Commerce, Agriculture and External Affairs during his multiple stints in the Parliament.

Hegde has been working in the area of rural development for a long while. He is the founder president of an NGO named Kadamba that works for rural health, self help groups, rural marketing and other rural welfare programmes.

Hegde has been a member of the Spices Board of India for four terms between 1996 to 2009 onwards.

Ashwini Kumar Choubey

Ashwini Kumar Choubey, with his above 90 percent attendance in the parliament, is an active face of the saffron party in Bihar.

Choubey is a Lok Sabha MP from Buxar, Bihar and he has been elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly for five times in a row.

He had shifted from his home district Bhagalpur to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Buxar. Known as a Modi loyalist, Choubey has been part of the Modi wave when BJP came to power in 2014. The BJP candidate prior to Choubey had lost the Buxar seat to RJD's Jagadanand Singh. Choubey, drawing votes from all castes, won the seat back for BJP even when most parts of Bihar were not under the party’s spell.

Choubey, the former health minister of Bihar in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, has held several significant positions over time. Presently, he is member of the Parliament Committee on Estimates along with being a member of the Standing Committee on Energy.

Active in student politics from the late 60s, the Bihar politician has made a steady climb in terms of political stature. In his student politics years, Choubey had participated in the Gandhian Socialist Jayaprakash Narayan-led JP Movement that launched mass protests against Indira Gandhi’s government back in 1974. He was taken into custody afterwards during Emergency.

As a serving health minister of the state on 2012, he had gotten into controversy after threatening to “chop off” hands of the junior doctors who were planning a strike to increase their allowances. But later he clarified that the seemingly threatening phrase was only used in a manner of speaking. He was known to have a very stringent position on doctors and their performances, leaving no leeway for them.

The man has also been credited for the slogan "Ghar - Ghar me ho Shouchalaya ka nirman, Tabhi hoga Ladli Bitiya ka Kanyadaan". He helped to build thousands of toilets for Mahadalit families.

The Kedarnath floods in 2013 devastated Uttarakhand and Choubey was there with his family. Afterwards, he wrote a book on the incident called ‘Trinetra’.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat 

One among the nine new ministers to be inducted into Narendra Modi-led Cabinet, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is a Lok Sabha MP from Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

The 49-year-old is a popular face in the Bharatiya Janata Party and will be the second Rajput after Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to secure a place in Modi's cabinet.

He is currently a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and Chairperson of the Fellowship Committee. His social media popularity is huge with more than 55,000 followers on Quora, a popular question-answer blogging website.

He is also popular among the youth owing to his likes for technology and gadgets. The National General Secretary of BJP's farmer's wing BJP Kisan Morcha, Shekhawat is popular with the rural community.

Shekhawat completed his higher education from Jai Narain Vyas University in Jodhpur, obtaining a MPhil and MA in philosophy. During his days in JNVU, he was involved in student politics under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Currently, a member of All India Council of Sports, his involvement in sports is also known to many. He has participated in the National and All India Inter University level in Basket Ball and right now is the President of Basketball India Payers Association.