The 65-year-old, who took oath as a Minister of State, has served as India's Ambassador to the UN in New York and Geneva, and with his decades of diplomatic experience, his presence in the Council would be a rarity.
Puri has had an over 40-year innings in diplomacy covering the multilateral arena, including as India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations both in Geneva (2002-2005) and in New York (2009-2013).
He is one of the few Indians to preside over the United Nations Security Council and the only one to have chaired its Counter-terrorism Committee.
An alumnus of the Hindu College in Delhi University who also taught briefly at the St Stephen's College, he is the author of the book 'Perilous Interventions: The Security Council & The Politics of Chaos', published last year.
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During his college days, Puri was a student leader who was also active in the JP movement.
Earlier this year, he was appointed the chairman of the Research and Information System for Developing Country (RIS), a city-based autonomous think-tank that works under the Ministry of External Affairs.