Nongthombam Biren Singh is an Indian politician and former footballer and journalist. He is the current Chief Minister of Manipur. He turned into politics in 2002, Singh joined the Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party and won the assembly elections from Heingang. He retained the seat in 2007 contesting with an Indian National Congress ticket after joining the party in 2003. In May 2003 he was appointed Minister of State of Vigilance in the Manipur state government. In 2007 he retained his Assembly seat, contesting on behalf of the Indian National Congress (INC). He was later appointed as the Minister of Irrigation & Flood Control and Youth Affairs & Sports in the State Government. In 2012 he again retained his Assembly seat for the third consecutive term. In September 2015, Biren stated that the recently passed bill in the Manipur Legislative Assembly to protect indigenous peoples would not harm any community in the state. Serving as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, he quit the party in 2016 before joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2017, he retained his seat from Heingang again and was named the Chief Minister after his party gained Coalition and formed the government. N. Biren Singh was awarded the Champions of Change in 2018 for his exceptional work to the nation. The award was conferred by the Vice-President of India Sri. Venkaiah Naidu at Vigyan Bhavan New Delhi.