Jaswant Singh is a famous political leader. He was born in the desert village of Jasol in the district of Barmer in Rajasthan. After a rural upbringing, he went to Mayo College, Ajmer. Thereafter, he joined the Joint Services Wing, Dehradun. Later, he was commissioned in the Central India House in December 1957 but resigned after some time to join politics.
A six-term Member of Parliament, he is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha. In Parliament, Singh has been the Chairman of the Estimates Committee, the Environment and Forest Committee and the Committee on Energy. He is also the Deputy Chairman of the Planning commission. He was appointed as the Minister of External Affairs in 1998 and 1999. He became the Finance Minister of India in 2002. Jaswant Singh has written a number of books on international affairs, security and development issues.