MANMOHAN SINGH
Manmohan Singh is the prime minister candidate of a Congress party in the coming Lok Sabha elections. He is the current prime minister of India. Formerly, he was the finance minister when Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister. He holds the record of the first Sikh to be the Prime minister of India. He was also holding the position of the Governor of Reserve Bank of India from 1982 to 1985 . He is widely known as a thinker and a scholar. He is an economist by his professional and have a strong education career and his knowledge has a wide range. This made him popular in the middle class people. He also gained popularity as Finance minister by introducing economic reforms in India.
BIOGRAPHY
Manmohan Singh was born in Gah, West Punjab as the son Mr. Gurmukh Singh and Mrs Gursharan Kaur. He belongs to a poor family and the family moved to Amritsar, when he was 14 years old. He was so determined to get an education. He gained a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Punjab University and studied at Oxford and Cambridge Universities on scholarships. He gained D.Phil from the University of Oxford and wrote his Oxford doctoral thesis on India’s export competitiveness. From this thesis, he published a book on Indian export trends. After completing D.Phil, he taught at the Delhi School of Economics and also worked for the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Finance Ministry of India. He holds an M.A., D.Phil. (Oxford), D.Litt.(Honoris Causa); I.N.C.(Assam) . He is married Gursharan Kaur and they have three daughters. In 1982, he was appointed the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and held the post till 1985. He also worked as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India from 1985 to 1987. In 1991, he was the Finance minister of India under P.V. Narasimha Rao’s Government. At the time, India was facing an economic crisis. Manmohan Singh introduced many economic reforms such as License Raj, privatization of public sector companies etc and these reforms brought economic growth in India. He was also elected to Rajya Sabha in 1995 and was re-elected in 2001 and 2007. From 1998 to 2004, he was the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha. In 2004, he was declared as Prime Minster by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, when Congress won the largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Singh is always loyal supporter of the Gandhi family. As a Prime minister, he continued the peace process with Pakistan, which has reduced terrorism and increased prosperity in the state of Kashmir. China became the biggest trade partner of India and Relationship with Afghanistan was also being improved. Manmohan Singh increased the aid package to Afghanistan for the development of more schools, health clinics, infrastructure, and defense. He had a strong relationship with U.S in the case of Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement. By this agreement, India can access American nuclear fuel and technology while India will have to allow IAEA inspection of its civil nuclear reactors. After more than two years for more bargaining, India and the U.S. signed the agreement on October 10, 2008. Singh has received a lot of criticism by this agreement. He was strongly criticized by Communist Parties and the BJP for his role in the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement. He had improved with Japan and European Union countries like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany and developing countries like Brazil and South Africa. Singh and his government’s health ministry started the “National Rural Health Mission” and he also continued the “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme”, which has included the introduction and improvement of Mid-day meals and the opening of schools all over India especially in rural areas to fight illiteracy. Singh’s government has been criticized for the security given to India. He has been criticized for revoking POTA and for the many bomb blasts and for not being able to reduce the Naxal terrorism in the country. However, this Government is successful in reduce the terrorism in Kashmir and also banned the Islamic terror group SIMI. In the coming Lok Sabha elections, he is again declared as the prime minister candidate of Congress.
CRITICISM
Singh has received a lot of criticism as a Prime minister. He was strongly criticized by Communist Parties and the BJP for his role in the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement. Also got criticism being PM as a Rajya Sabha member from Assam, a state where he does not live. Opposition party, BJP called him the weakest Prime Minister. They stated that Sonia Gandhi, the current Chairperson of the UPA takes all decisions in government affairs than the Prime Minister. He has also been criticized for the security given to India. He has been criticized for revoking POTA and for the many bomb blasts and for not being able to reduce the Naxal terrorism in the country.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Manmohan Singh received many awards and honors for his work and contribution to society. In 1987, he was honored by Indian Government by giving the “Padma Vibhushan award”. He also got “Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award”of the Indian Science Congress in 1995, the “Asia Money Award” for Finance Minister of the Year 1993 and 1994, the “Euro Money Award” for Finance Minister of the Year 1993, the “Adam Smith Prize” of the University of Cambridge in 1956, and the “Wright’s Prize” for Distinguished Performance at St. John’s College in Cambridge in 1955. Dr. Singh has also been honored by a number of other associations including by the Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun. In 1997, the University of Alberta presented him with an “Honorary Doctor of Laws”. The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge honored him by giving an honorary “Doctor of Civil Law “degree. St John’s College and the University of Cambridge further honored him by naming a PhD Scholarship after him, the Dr Manmohan Singh Scholarship.