Raj Kumar Singh (born 20 December 1952) is a former Indian bureaucrat and a current Union Cabinet Minister in the Government of India. He is a Member of the Indian Parliament for Arrah, Bihar, since May 2014. Singh is a 1975 batch Bihar cadre Indian Administrative Service officer and former Home Secretary of India.
On 3 September 2017, he was appointed as the Minister of Power (Independent Charge) in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet.[3] On 30 May 2019, he was appointed as Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Power, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India.
On 7th July 2021, He was elevated to the rank of Cabinet minister.
Singh was born to Haldhar Prasad Singh and Chandrakala Devi in Supaul in a Gandhavariya Rajput Family in Bihar.[citation needed] He gained a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) degree in English Literature, a LL.B. and a Diploma in Management. He was educated at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Magadh University and Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. He married Shiela Singh on 27 February 1975. They have a son and a daughter together.
There was speculation that Singh would contest from the Bihar constituencies of either Arrah or Supaul in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, though Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh objected to him contesting from Supaul. On 13 December 2013, Singh joined the BJP. He contested the election as a BJP candidate in Arrah, beating his nearest rival, Sribhagwan Singh Kushwaha of RJD by a margin of over 1,35,000 votes.
In the 2019 General Elections conducted for the formation of the 17th Lok Sabha, he again contested from Arrah and retained his seat becoming the first MP from Arrah since Chandradeo Prasad Verma to retain his seat in successive elections. He defeated his nearest rival Raju Yadav of CPI (ML) Liberation by 1,47,285 votes.
On 3 September 2017, Mr. Singh was appointed as Minister of Power (Independent Charge) and Minister of New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge) by Narendra Modi. This post was previously held by Piyush Goyal.
In May 2019, Singh was appointed as Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New and Renewable Energy and Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.