Renuka Singh Saruta is an Indian politician affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She has served as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha, representing the Raigarh constituency in the state of Chhattisgarh. She was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Minister of State for Tribal Affairs in 2021.
| Full name | Renuka Singh Saruta |
|---|---|
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Constituency | Raigarh, Chhattisgarh |
| Lok Sabha | 17th Lok Sabha (elected 2019) |
| Union portfolio | Minister of State for Tribal Affairs (2021–2024) |
| Earlier role | Member, Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly |
| Community | Scheduled Tribe |
Renuka Singh hails from the Surguja region of northern Chhattisgarh, an area with a substantial tribal population. She belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community, and tribal welfare and development have been recurring themes in her political work. Before her election to Parliament, she served as a legislator in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, where she was elected from the Bharatpur–Sonhat constituency in the Koriya district.
Renuka Singh entered electoral politics through the BJP and contested for the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha. As a state-level legislator, she held responsibilities related to women and child welfare in the state government during the period when the BJP was in power in Chhattisgarh under Chief Minister Raman Singh.
In the 2019 Indian general election, she contested from the Raigarh Lok Sabha constituency, which is a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes. She won the seat on a BJP ticket and entered the 17th Lok Sabha. During her tenure she served on parliamentary committees dealing with subjects relevant to tribal and rural India.
In the cabinet expansion of July 2021, Renuka Singh was sworn in as a Minister of State in the Government of India and assigned the Tribal Affairs portfolio. In this capacity she worked on schemes related to scholarships for tribal students, the development of Eklavya Model Residential Schools, and welfare initiatives for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs).
She contested the 2023 Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly election from the Bharatpur–Sonhat seat, as part of the BJP's strategy of fielding sitting Members of Parliament in key state contests. She was not elected to the assembly in that election.
Renuka Singh's career reflects the BJP's emphasis on cultivating tribal leadership in central India, particularly in Chhattisgarh, where Scheduled Tribes form a significant share of the electorate. Her elevation to the Union Council of Ministers placed a tribal woman parliamentarian from Chhattisgarh in charge of policy execution affecting tribal communities nationwide, including in areas such as education, livelihoods, and the constitutional protection of tribal rights.