RK Singh takes charge as minister of power and renewable energy in new Modi govt; MP from Arrah to focus on 24X7 electricity for all

New Delhi: Bureaucrat-turned-politician and second time Lok Sabha member RK Singh Friday took charge of Ministry of Power and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and stressed that focus of Team Modi 2.0 will be on reliable and sustainable ‘24X7 Power for All’. He has also been appointed as Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. [caption id=“attachment_6736491” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Lok Sabha MP RK Singh. Twitter@RajKSinghIndia[/caption] “Our focus will be on 24X7 power for all. We want to provide reliable and sustainable power to all. The sustainable means the commercial viability of power supplied to consumers,” Singh told reporter while taking charge here. About the 100-day agenda, the minister said he will soon be briefed about this along with other ministers. The previous NDA regime had envisaged 24x7 Power for All from 1 April, 2019. The government has also worked in that direction and provided electricity connection to over 2.6 crore families under the Rs 16,320-crore Saubhagya scheme. In Team Modi 1.0, Singh was the Minister of State for Power, and New and Renewable Energy. He was instrumental in the launch of household electrification scheme Saubhagya. According to data from the power ministry, around 2.63 crore families were provided electricity connections under the scheme. About the challenges in the renewable energy sector, Singh said he is aware of the challenge and the government would maintain the pace of growth in the clean energy segment which recorded an unprecedented success in the past five years. Singh also played a major role in scaling up India’s renewable energy capacity. India has set an ambitious target of having 175 GW of renewable energy, including 100 GW of solar energy and 60 GW of wind energy by 2022. India achieved 78 GW of clean energy, including 28 GW of solar and 36 GW of wind energy as on April 2019. Singh joined the Indian Police Service in 1974 and then Indian Administrative Service in 1975. He was district magistrate of East Champaran from 1981 to 1983 as well as the district magistrate of Patna from 1983 to 1985. Singh has been elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Arrah for the second time. He won the seat by a margin of 1,47,285 votes defeating Raju Yadav of CPM in the recent polls.