General (Dr.) Vijay Kumar Singh (Retd.), the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, and also for Road Transport and Highways was previously the Union Minister of State for External Affairs. He also held independent charge of the Ministry of Development of the North-eastern Region, Ministry of Planning and Statistics, and Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. General Singh has been a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) representing the Ghaziabad constituency (Uttar Pradesh) since 2014. General Singh served as the 24th Chief of Staff in the Indian Army (2010-12). In 2015, he spearheaded ‘Operation Raahat’ for the evacuation of Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from war-torn Yemen. In 2016, he led ‘Operation Sankat Mochan’ to rescue Indians from South Sudan. In 2018, he led efforts to locate missing Indian workers in Iraq, at a time the country was fighting ISIS.