Dr. Manmohan Singh
Essay No. 01
Manmohan Singh is a soft-spoken, dynamic person. This humble prime minister of our country was born on Sept. 26, 1932, at a place called ‘Gab’ situated in West Punjab now in Pakistan. Manmohan Singh completed his M.A, D.Phil. from Oxford University and D.Lit. from MonosisCaurca University.
After completing his education, he began to teach economics at Punjab University in Chandigarh. He was only 25 years of age when he was selected for the post of lecturer at Punjab University. After that, in the year 1969, he was appointed as the professor of International Trade at Delhi School of Economics in Delhi University.
In the year 1991, Manmohan Singh was appointed as the Union Finance Minister. He portrayed great skills as the finance minister by framing good budgets and controlling the reins of the economy of the country. In spite of all the vicissitudes on his way, Manmohan Singh did his best efforts to improve the economic condition of the country. On the 23rd of May, 2004, Manmohan Singh was appointed as the prime minister of India, after Mrs. Sonia Gandhi declined to accept the coveted post.
Manmohan Singh is an extremely compassionate person and a devoted Sikh. He has equal regard for all religions. He believes in a spiritual hymn written in Sikh literature, that States,—”Awwal-E-Allah, Nur-O-Upaiya, Kudratke sab bande, eknoor se sab jag upjya, kaunbhale, kaunmande”. This means God is in the form of soothing light and the entire mankind has originated from him.
Manmohan Singh is the lamp of our country, distributing his light of love in all the directions. May he attain success in all the endeavours to serve mankind selflessly.
Essay No. 02
Dr. Manmohan Singh
One of the more nonpolitical faces of Indian politics, Dr. Manmohan Singh is best known as the “Liberator’ of the Indian Economy. He was born at Gab in West Punjab (now in Pakistan) on September 26, 1932. Dr. Manmohan Singh studied Economics in Chandigarh and Canada. He later taught the subject at Punjab University.
Dr. Manmohan Singh started his academic career in 1957 as a lecturer in Economics at Punjab University Chandigarh. Later he served as Reader in Economics and Professor in Economics at the same university. He was appointed as Professor of International Trade. Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, in 1969 and he served there till 1971. Dr. Manmohan Singh has also served as a National fellow of the National Institute of Education, NCERT. He has also served as Honorary Fellow in foreign colleges and universities.
Dr. Singh is widely regarded as the architect of the Indian economic reform program. He is an accomplished economist who has spent much of his career as a bureaucrat-he was even the Governor of Reserve Bank of India from 1982-85. Later he got inducted into politics and into Narasimha Rao’s cabinet as a Finance Minister. When he became Finance Minister of India in 1991, the economy of India was in shambles. The country had an unsustainable fiscal deficit of close to 8.5 percent of GDP-almost double what it is currently. There was a huge balance of payments deficit. The current account deficit was close to 3.5 percent of GDP and there were no foreign lenders who were willing to finance it. In other words, the country was on the verge of bankruptcy. But Dr. Manmohan Singh held the helm of the Indian economy and brought the country back from looming economic bankruptcy. He liberalised the economy to put India on the path of globalisation. Dr. Manmohan Singh has also been the Central Government Advisor on Economic Affairs, besides taking international assignments at the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the Asian Development Bank.
As Finance Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh slashed red tape, simplified the tax system, and removed stifling controls and regulations to try to create an environment conducive to business. The economy revived, industry picked up, inflation was checked and growth rates remained consistently high in the 1990s. The economy, under Mr. Singh’s stewardship, grew at a steady 7% per annum.
Dr. Manmohan Singh, as a politician, has never won a popular election in his life. Rather other leaders have selected him. When he was the Finance Minister, he derived his political Capital from the then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1991 and he represented the Congress there since. In 1999, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from South Delhi but lost.
A rather low-key politician, Dr. Manmohan Singh has had a ‘squeaky clean image and was an advisor to Sonia Gandhi throughout the election campaign in 2004. The Congress alliance under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi won a high number of seats in the parliamentary elections. The left Front decided to support the Congress alliance government from outside. Sonia Gandhi was elected leader of Congress Parliamentary Party and was accepted to become the Prime Minister but in a surprise move, she nominated Dr. Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. Dr. Singh was sworn in on May 22, 2004, as India’s first non-Hindu Prime Minister. As the Prime Minister, he will now derive his political capital from Sonia Gandhi, being her chosen one for the top job. The big difference this time is that the job is the most daunting one in India.
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Essay No. 03
India’s 13th prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh is acclaimed as a thinker and a scholar. He is well regarded for his diligence and his academic approach to work, as well as his accessibility and his unassuming conduct. He has been in academics and a civil servant.
Manmohan Singh was born on 26 September 1932, in village Gah in the Punjab province of undivided India. He completed his matriculation examination from Punjab University in 1948. His academic career took him from Punjab to the University of Cambridge, UK, where he earned a first-class honours degree in Economics in 1957. He followed this with a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University in 1962. His book, India’s Export Trends and Prospects for Self-sustained Growth (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1964) was an early critique of India’s inward-oriented trade policy..
Dr. Singh’s academic credentials were burnished by the years he spent on the faculty of Punjab University and the prestigious Delhi School of Economics of the University of Delhi. He had a brief stint at the UNCTAD Secretariat as well, during these years. This presaged a subsequent appointment as Secretary-General of the South Commission in Geneva between 1987 and 1990.
In 1971, Dr. Singh joined the Government of India as Economic Advisor in the Commerce Ministry. This was soon followed by his appointment as Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance in 1972. Among the many governmental positions that Dr. Singh has occupied is Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Advisor of the Prime Minister, and Chairman of the University Grants Commission.
In what was to become the turning point in the economic history of independent India, Dr. Singh spent five years between 1991 and 1996 as India’s Finance Minister. His role in ushering in a comprehensive policy of economic reforms is now recognized worldwide. In the popular view of those years in India, that period is inextricably associated with the persona of Dr. Singh.
Among the many awards and honours conferred upon Dr. Singh in his public career, the most prominent is India’s second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan (1987); the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress (1995); the Asia Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year (1993); the Adam Smith Prize of the University of Cambridge (1956); and the Wright’s Prize for distinguished performance at St John’s College in Cambridge (1955). Dr. Singh has also been honoured by a number of other associations including the Japanese Nihon Keizal Shimbun. Dr. Singh has represented India at many international conferences and in several international organisations. He has led Indian delegations to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Cyprus (1993) and to the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993.
In his political career, Dr. Singh has been a member of India’s Upper House of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) since 1991, where he was the Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2004. He is reportedly a workaholic and is a person with a vision. His style of functioning makes it clear that he means business. He has a 12-hour working day.
He is the first Sikh of the country to become prime minister. He has qualities of the head and the heart that establish instant rapport with those that meet him. Academically he is so qualified and experienced that his rich background is going to stand him in good stead. I
He married Gursharan Kaur on 14 September 1958. They have three daughters. Dr. Singh stands tall and can be called the ‘gentleman in white’ for he is always dressed in white. His turban is of a light blue hue that goes well with his bright complexion. There is a benign smile on his face. He is soft-spoken, full of modesty and informality-which attributes have endeared him to one and all.
A patriot to the hilt, he has the well-being of Indians uppermost in his mind. He is of the firm belief that Indians deserve good governance. The country is indeed lucky in having him as the new prime minister—who is certain to bring about good fortunes for the country and bounty to its people in the near future.
