Dr. Manmohan Singh
Dr. Manmohan Singh (26th September 1932, Born in Gah,Punjab), is the fourteenth Prime Minister of India. He is the only Prime Minister since Pandit Jawahar Lal to return to power after completing a full five-year term in office. Dr Manmohan Singh also happens to be one of the most accomplished and highly qualified Prime Ministers to have served the country. He has been known to be a man of impeccable integrity and honesty and is well regarded for his academic approach to work. Over the years he has led a long and distinguished career both as a bureaucrat and politician. Some of the key reforms and policy changes that he brought about are responsible for the economic boom that the country enjoys today.
Academic Qualification
BA (Hons) in Economics, Punjab University (1952)
MA (First Class) in Economics, Punjab University (1954)
Honours degree in Economics, Cambridge (1957)
Phd in Economics, Oxford (1962)
Biography
Early years
Dr Manmohan Singh was born to Gurmukh Singh and Amrit Kaur in Gah,Punjab(now part of Chakwal District, Pakistan) into a Sikh Family. He lost his mother at a young age and was raised by his grandmother whom he was very fond of. Dr Singh was a studious and hardworking student right from his schools days often studying under candle light due to unavailability of electricity in his village. During Partition his family moved to erstwhile India and settled in Amritsar where he secured admission in Hindu College. Dr Singh continued to excel in his studies and went on to complete his masters in economics in 1954 from Punjab University in Chandigarh. He then left abroad for further studies and completed his doctorate in Economics in 1962 after which he returned to India taking up teaching jobs as a lecturer in Punjab University and Delhi School of Economics. He is married to Gursharan Kaur and the couples have three daughters.
During 1971 he joined the civil service as an economic adviser to the Ministry Of Commerce. His contribution was well appreciated and by 1972, was appointed the Chief Economic adviser in the Ministry of Commerce. After that he was appointed the Governor of Reserve Bank of India in 1982 and tenure lasted three years. Following this he also served as Deputy Chairman for the Planning Commission from 1985-87.
Emergence of Dr Singh’s Political Journey
Dr Singh made his transition from being a bureaucrat to that of a politician in 1991. He was appointed member in the Rajya Sabha and became the finance minister in Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao's government in the same year. PM Rao was on the lookout for an able person to handle finance and appointing Dr Singh to the post changed the face of Indian Economy the effect of which we continue to witness today. This came about at a crucial time especially considering the early 1990’s which were a particularly difficult period for India when it seemed close to a meltdown.
a) Faced with severely depleted currency reserves and balance of payment issues India was on the verge of defaulting on its foreign loans.
b) The death of Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE had led to an upsurge in Hindu Nationalism and the economy was in very a bad shape.
c) With the PM’ support he initiated several reforms that were aimed at doing away with the infamous red tape and opening up the economy to liberalization. He wanted to do away with the quasi socialist policy that was adhered to for four decades since independence.
d) He took up several measures to end protectionism and opened the economy to foreign investment so that India would evolve into a mixed economy and also save itself from bankruptcy.
e) He devalued the rupee in order to encourage exports, loosened restrictions on foreign investment and slashed tax rates.
f) With these measures the economy got a new lease of life and Indian Industry began to show encouraging signs of growth and progress. Inflation also was brought under control.
g) In those five years ( 1991 – 96) he carried out reforms that resulted in the end of License Raj System. This helped boost the Indian Economy to attract greater international trade and investments. He rebuilt India's foreign reserves, which now stands over pound stg. 66 billion ($170 billion) after being less than pound stg. 1 billion.
PM Rao completed his tenure in office but his administration was rocked by accusation of corruption and scandals. Dr Singh however was well appreciated for his reforms. He stayed with the Congress which then went through a lean phase suffering defeats in the elections of 1996, 1998 and 1999. A surprise coalition win in the 2004 for the Congress came about under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. However Sonia Gandhi declined and Dr Singh was made PM making him the first Sikh Prime Minister of the country.
Controversies
The Congress created a good impression of governance inspite of facing a prolonged battle with the coalition partners and opposition with regards to the nuclear deal in their first term. But the ride has become less smooth over Dr Singh’s second consecutive term in office. The second term was rocked by huge corruption scandals that have shocked the country. The CWG scam and the 2G scam have rocked parliament and has put the party in many an embarrassing situations. The scams highlight massive corruption and Dr Singh though considered to be an honest individual has not been able to defend many of the charges leveled against his party or coalition members properly. It remains to be seen how the charges are tackled and whether the crooks are brought to justice by the government over the next few months.
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