Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was born in Delhi on 15 February 1952. He did his BA (Hons) History from Hindu College, University of Delhi and was placed first in order of Merit in 1971 and completed his MA(History) 1973 in the First Division. He was Prime Minister of the Hindu College Parliament and was also a keen debater. He also taught at St. Stephens College, Delhi.
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. During a career spanning 39 years, served in senior positions at the Ministries of External Affairs and Defence, held ambassadorial level posts in the United Kingdom, Brazil and served as Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations both in Geneva and New York. He had earlier served in India’s Missions in Tokyo, and Colombo.
Shri Hardeep Singh Puri has extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy. He served on three occasions as a member of India’s delegation to the GATT/United Nations in Geneva including as Ambassador and Permanent Representative from 2002 to 2005. He has had a long association with and specialization in trade policy related matters and served on several Dispute Settlement Panels of the GATT and WTO.
He was President of the United Nations Security Council in August 2011 and November 2012 and Chairman of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee in 2011-2012.
He retired from the Indian Foreign Service on 28 February, 2013 and joined the International Peace Institute (IPI), New York, a non-profit think tank with headquarters in New York and offices in Vienna and Manama. He was Senior Adviser from June to December 2013. He was Vice-President of the IPI and Secretary General of the Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM). He left the IPI on 31 March 2016.
He has authored ‘Perilous Interventions’ – The Security Council and The Politics of Chaos, which was published by Harper Collins in September 2016. He has delivered numerous lectures at important fora and also published a large number of articles and papers. He delivered a public lecture on ‘India and the Western Liberal Democratic Order’ at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library on 23 January 2017. He also authored India’s Trade Policy Dilemma and the Role of Domestic Reform, published by Carnegie India in February, 2017.
He was appointed President of the Governing Body and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries (RIS). He is a visiting faculty of the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
He was inducted in the Union Cabinet on 3 September, 2017 and took over as Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on 4 September,2017.
Last Updated:22-Mar-2018
