ManmohanSinghBiography

Manmohan Singh is an Indian economist and politician whoservedasthePrimeMinisterofIndiafortwoconsecutiveterms.This biography provides detailed information about hischildhood, life, academic & political career, achievements &timeline.

QuickFacts

Famousas

FormerPrimeMinisterofIndia

Nationality Indian

Religion Sikhism

Bornon 26September1932AD

ZodiacSign

Libra

Bornin Gah

Father GurmukhSingh

Mother AmritKaur

Spouse: GursharanKaur(1958–present)

Children Upinder,Daman,Amrit

Education

StJohn'sCollege,Cambridge(1956–1957),PanjabUniversity,Chandigarh(1954),PanjabUniversity,Chandigarh(1952),NuffieldCollege,Oxford,HinduCollege,UniversityofDelhi

Awards

2010-WorldStatesmanAward2005-Top100InfluentialPeopleintheWorld2002-OutstandingParliamentarianAward2000-AnnasahebChirmuleAward1999-H.H.KanchiSriParamacharyaAwardforExcellence1999-FellowoftheNationalAcademyofAgriculturalSciencesNewDelhi1997-LokmanyaTilakAward1997-JusticeK.S.HegdeFoundationAward1997-NikkeiAsiaprizeforRegionalGrowth1995-JawaharlalNehruBirthCentenaryAward(1994–95)1994-FinanceMinisteroftheYear1994-JawaharlalNehruBirthCentenaryAward(1994–95)1994-ElectedDistinguishedFellowoftheLondonSchoolofEconomics1994-ElectedHonoraryFellowoftheAllIndiaManagementAssociation1993-FinanceMinisteroftheYear1987-PadmaVibhushan1986-ElectedNationalFellowNationalInstituteofEducation1985-ElectedPresidentoftheIndianEconomicAssociation1956-AdamSmithPrize1955-WrightPrizeforDistinguishedPerformance

QuickFacts

IBSA-leadersManmohanSinghbyRicardoStuckertManmohanSingh isaneminent Indianeconomist andpoliticianwho served as the Prime Minister of India for two consecutiveterms. He held prominent posts in different organizations andreceived several honors for his brilliant work even beforebeginning his political career. He held various posts such asadvisor to the Foreign Trade Ministry, Chief Economic Advisorin theMinistry of Finance, Governor of Reserve Bank of India,andHeadof thePlanningCommission.As theFinanceMinisterintheP.V.NarasimhaRaogovernmentinthe1990s,hecarriedout several structural reforms that liberalised India's economy,which enhancedSingh's reputation as a leading reform-mindedeconomist. In 2004, hewaselected to be thePrimeMinister ofIndia which came as a surprise as everybody was expectingSoniaGandhi, being the head of theUPA, to take up the post.His no-nonsense image and a brilliant bureaucratic experiencewere once again acknowledged by the people and he was re-elected as the PrimeMinister in 2009. However, in his secondterm,hewascriticizedforfosteringtooclosearelationshipwiththe United States and his party faced further allegations ofcorruption which eventually led to the deterioration of theparty’spopularitywiththepublic.Despitethecriticism,heisstillregarded as the key architect to usher India into a neweconomic mould. A great thinker, scholar and a talentedeconomist, he is the only prime minister since JawaharlalNehru,tobere-electedaftercompletingafullfive-yearterm.

Childhood&Early Life

He was born on September 26, 1932 in Gah, Punjab,British India, to Gurmukh Singh and his wife,Amrit Kaur.He losthismotheratayoungageandwasbroughtupbyhisgrandmother.

He received his early education from the Hindu College,Amritsar, where his family migrated after the Partition ofIndia.

Then, he was enrolled at the Panjab University, first inChandigarh and then in Hoshiarpur. He earned hisbachelor ’s degree in economics in 1952 and master ’sdegreeinthesamesubjectin1954.

Then,asastudentofSt.John’sCollege,heattended theUniversityofCambridgeandcompletedhishonorsdegreein1957.

In1962,heearnedhisD.Phil. inEconomics fromNuffieldCollege,UniversityofOxford.

CareerFrom 1966 to 1969, he worked for the United NationsConferenceonTradeandDevelopment(UNCTAD).

From 1969 to 1971, he worked as a Professor ofInternationalTradeattheDelhiSchoolofEconomics.

In1972,hewasappointedas theChiefEconomicAdvisorto the Ministry of Finance. In 1976, he became aSecretaryintheMinistryofFinance.

He served as the Director of Reserve Bank of India from1976to1980.

From 1980 to 1982, he worked for the PlanningCommission of India. He served as the Governor ofReservebankofIndiafrom1982to1985.

In1985,hewasappointedas theDeputyChairmanof thePlanningCommissionofIndia,apostheheldtill1987.

From 1987 to 1990, he worked as the Secretary GeneraloftheSouthCommission,anindependenteconomicthink-tankbasedinGeneva,Switzerland.

In1990,hebecametheAdvisoronEconomicAffairstothePrimeMinister,followinghisreturntoIndia.

In1991,hebecametheChairmanoftheUniversityGrantsCommission(UGC).

In1991,PrimeMinisterP.V.NarasimhaRaoappointedhimastheFinanceMinisterofIndiainhisgovernment-apostSinghhelduntil1996.

From1998to2004,heservedastheLeaderofOppositionin the Upper House, while the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)wasinpower.

In2004GeneralElections,IndianNationalCongresspartyjoined hands with the allies, formed the UnitedProgressive Alliance (UPA) and defeated BJP. Congressleader, SoniaGandhi recommended Singh’s name for thepost of Prime Minister and on May 22, 2004, he becamethe14thPrimeMinisterofIndia.

In 2009, UPA was again successful in forming thegovernment in the 15th Lok Sabha elections and he wasre-elected as the Prime Minister of India on 22nd May2009.

In 2014General Elections, Bhartiya Janta Party defeatedtheUPAwithahugemargin.Asaresult,heresignedfromhispostonMay17,2014.

MajorWorksAs the Finance Minister of India, he was successful inimplementing economic reforms that aimed at enhancingthe productivity and liberalization of the economy.One ofthe most important measures he took was to free Indiafrom the ‘Licence Raj’—the root cause of slow economicgrowthandcorruptionintheIndianeconomyfordecades.

As the Prime Minister, he invested his time in variousnational and global issues such as economy, health andeducation, terrorism and foreign affairs. He worked toimprove the conditions of India’s poor, resolving conflictswithPakistanandalsotowards improvingrelationsamong

variousreligiousgroupsofIndia.

During his tenure as the Prime Minister, National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the Right toInformationActwerepassedbytheParliamentin2005.Healso contributed in strengthening anti-terror laws withamendments to UAPA and in improving relations with theUSA,Japan,theUnitedKingdom,France,andGermany.

Awards&AchievementsIn 1987, he received the Padma Vibhushan, the secondhighestcivilianawardintheRepublicofIndia.

In 1993, he was named the Finance Minister of the YearbyEuromoneyandAsiamoney.

He was awarded honorary professorship by JawaharlalNehru University in 1976 and then, in 1996 by DelhiSchoolofEconomics,UniversityofDelhi.

He was the recipient of honorary doctorate degree fromseveral prestigious institutions such as University ofAlberta (1997), University of Oxford (2005), University ofCambridge(2006)andKingSaudUniversity(2010).

In 2005, he was listed among the ‘Top 100 InfluentialPeopleintheWorld’inTimemagazine.

In 2014, he received the honor of ‘Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Paulownia Flowers’ from the Government ofJapan.

PersonalLife &LegacyIn 1958, he married Gursharan Kaur and they wereblessedwiththreedaughters;Upinder,DamanandAmrit.