Prime Minister
Dr Manmohan Singh
India's fourteenth Prime Minister, Dr.
Manmohan Singh is rightly 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 demeanour.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was born on September
26, 1932, in a village in the Punjab province of undivided
India. Dr. Singh completed his Matriculation examinations
from the Panjab 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. Dr. Singh followed this with a D.Phil
in Economics from Nuffield College at 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. 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 are Secretary
in the Ministry of Finance; Deputy Chairman of the Planning
Commission; Governor of the 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 are 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 and 1994); the
Euro 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 by the Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
Dr. Singh has represented India at many international
conferences and in several international organizations.
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 (the Rajya Sabha)
since 1991, where he was Leader of the Opposition between
1998 and 2004.
Dr. Singh and his wife Mrs. Gursharan Kaur have three
daughters.
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