Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh passed away at age 92 due to illness.
From 2004 – 2014, Manmohan Singh served as the 13th Prime Minister of India. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister.
Manmohan Singh was born on September 26, 1932. He was born in present day Pakistan. Following the partition in 1947, his family moved to India. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oxford.
He is widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program and remembered for landmark nuclear deal with the United States. He earned a reputation of a man of great personal integrity.
Timeline of education & leadership
Besides his role in India’s political landscape, he held office at many posts in the planning commission and also worked as an Economic Advisor at the RBI.
- He became the chief economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance in 1972
- He was appointed governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1982
- In 1991, PV Narasimha Rao, chose him as a Finance Minister. It marked the beginning of his political journey,
- He was honoured with Padma Vibhushan in 1987.
- In 1993, R. Singh was honored as Finance Minister of the Year by Euromoney and Asiamoney in recognition of his exceptional economic reforms.
Key initiatives that shaped a billion lives
- He reshaped India’s economy and social landscape through major schemes MGNREGA and the Right to Education Act.
- Right to Education Act declared education as a fundamental right for children between the ages of 6 and 14 years.
- The National Rural Health Mission, implemented in 2005, aims to provide accessible and affordable healthcare to the rural population, with a focus on maternal and child health.
- During Singh’s second term, India maintained good GDP growth rates, with the economy growing at a 9% annual rate and peaking around that mark.
- National Food Security Act aimed at providing food grains to about two-thirds of India’s population
- Aadhaar Project to provide a unique identification number for residents in India, for numerous services and benefits.
Lesser known facts about the ex-PM
- He was raised by his grandmother as his mother died at a young age. He was
- extremely dedicated towards his studies. As there was no electricity in his village, he used to study under a kerosene-lit lamp
- He was also the first Sikh to become India’s Prime Minister
- He led liberalisation, privatisation, globalization
His expertise and strategic decisions were instrumental in navigating through challenging financial times. Singh’s leadership during this period helped stabilize the economy, implement necessary reforms, and foster recovery. His work was crucial in shaping policies that addressed both short-term and long-term economic challenges, ensuring that the country was able to weather the global financial turbulence and set the stage for future growth.
Towards the end of his second term as the Prime Minister, he stated, “I honestly believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the opposition parties in Parliament”
