Dr Manmohan Singh Death: The passing away of former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh has hit hard not just India but globally including the USA. PM Modi called Singh one of "India's most distinguished leaders" while paying his condolences. The United States has also joined the mourning of Singh's death. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, Singh was one of the greatest champions of the bilateral strategic partnership in the USA and India. Dr Manmohan Singh's journey is a tale of courage, fearlessness, and triumph. From being a normal professor to being vouched by PM Narasimha Roa to join as finance minister, all it took was one phone call to save India from economic crisis.
The Phone Call:
It was the year 1991 and the month was June, Singh had returned from attending a conference in the Netherlands to the national capital of India, Delhi. In the late hours of that day, when Singh was gone to bed, his son-in-law received a phone call. It was a call from PC Alexander, an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1948 batch and confidante of PV Narasimha Rao.
Singh met Alexander for few hours later after the phone call, where the latter told Singh of the message from that time prime minister P. V. Narasimha Rao. Rao wanted to pack his bag and come to Rashtrapati Bhavan for swearing as the finance minister of India.
Before becoming finance minister, from 1957 to 1959, Singh was a lecturer or professor in the field of economics. During these periods, he also worked with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from 1966 to 1969, and even joined as an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Trade by Lalit Narayan Mishra, in recognition of Singh due to his talent in economics.
Later on, he was appointed as chief economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance in 1972 and secretary in the Finance Ministry in 1976. From 1980 to 1982, Singh was at the Planning Commission, and in 1982 he became the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor which he held till 1985.
Coming out of RBI, he became deputy chairman of the Planning Commission (India) from 1985 to 1987, and later from 1987 to 1990, he became secretary general of the South Commission, a think tank that is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
After Rao's call for him to become FM, Singh did not take it seriously. In an interview with a British journalist in 2005, Singh told Mark Tully, "On the day (Rao) was formulating his cabinet, he sent his Principal Secretary to me saying, "The PM would like you to become the Minister of Finance". I didn't take it seriously. He eventually tracked me down the next morning, rather angry, and demanded that I get dressed up and come to Rashtrapati Bhavan for the swearing-in. So that's how I started in politics," as per Wikipedia.
The Dire Economy!
When Singh joined as Finance Minister to Roa's government, Indian economy was at the brink of failure. The country's fiscal deficit was at 8.5%, while GDP, balance of payments deficit was huge and the current account deficit was near 3.5% of GDP. The country's forex reserves barely was around $1 billion, which could have only paid up to 2 weeks of imports, compared to $600 billion reserves that was recorded in 2009.
Right after joining as FM, Singh told Rao India is facing an unprecedented crisis. However, Rao's party were reluctant for deregulation, despite P. Chidambaram and Singh's explanation that India's economy would collapse if not deregulated.
Going against the party's wish for no deregulation, Rao approved Singh deregulate the economy.
The Bold Move!
A risk that had been nerve-wracking to the entire nation. But following this decision, Singh, who had thus far been one of the most influential architects of India's socialist economy, eliminated the permit raj, reduced state control of the economy, and reduced import taxes, Rao and Singh thus implemented policies to open up the economy and change India's socialist economy to a more capitalistic one, in the process dismantling the License Raj, a system that inhibited the prosperity of private businesses, as per Wikipedia.
Also, the duo removed obstacles standing in the way of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and initiated the process of the privatisation of public sector companies.
Despite this, Rao's government was voted out in 1996 due to the non-performance of government in other areas. In praise of Singh's work that pushed India towards a market economy, long-time Cabinet minister P. Chidambaram has compared Singh's role in India's reforms to Deng Xiaoping's in China, Wikipedia said.
Singh submitted his resignation from the post of Finance Minister in 1993, after a parliamentary investigation scrutinised Singh for not being able to predict the $1.8 billion 1992 securities scandal. Despite this, Rao refused Singh's resignation instead he punished the individuals who accused Singh.
The Distinguished Leader!
Singh would go on to become the first Sikh Prime Minister of India in the 2004 election. His victory was also unexpected. When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won the 2004 election, the party's chairperson Sonia Gandhi who was supposed to swear in as PM surprisingly pulled back and gave the prime ministership to Singh.
As PM, Singh's ministries implemented key legislations and projects, including the National Rural Health Mission, Unique Identification Authority, Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Right to Information Act. In 2008, opposition to a historic civil nuclear agreement with the United States nearly caused Singh's government to fall after Left Front parties withdrew their support.[5] In 2009, he co-founded the BRICS. India's economy grew rapidly during his term, as per Wikipedia. Singh was part of an Indian economy that had a growth rate of 8-9%.
Singh was the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014, and also the fourth longest-serving PM after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi.
Singh died in the late hours of December 26, 2024, after being hospitalised in AIIMS in New Delhi due to a heart issue and old age. He passed away at the age of 92.
Click it and Unblock the Notifications
Sign in with Google