The Former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh who is also known as the architect of India’s economic reforms has passed away at the age of 92 Years.
Dr Manmohan Singh, India’s 14th Prime Minister, presided over a decade of phenomenal growth and development. Under Dr Singh’s Stewardship, India witnessed the highest growth rate in its history, averaging at 7.7% to become a nearly two trillion-dollar economy.
Dr. Manmohan Singh As A Finance Minister
During his tenure as Finance Minister from 1991-1996 when the script first began to take shape. In July 1991, Dr Manmohan Singh ended his budget speech with the words “No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. I suggest to this august House that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea.” This was the beginning of his idea of India.
As Finance Minster, Manmohan Singh took the crucial decision to liberalise the economy under pressure from multiple fronts: India’s fiscal deficit and balance of payments deficit were ominously high and the country’s forex reserves were barely enough for a couple of weeks of imports. The situation was so dire that the government even resorted to IMF assistance, for the first and last time, and pledging of gold reserves to raise funds.
Dr Singh went on to teach at Punjab University and the Delhi School of Economics. He joined the Government of India as Economic Advisor in the Commerce Ministry in 1971. He was soon promoted to Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry in 1972. After a short stint at the UNCTAD Secretariat, he was appointed Secretary General of the South Commission in Geneva from 1987-1990. In addition, Dr Singh also held the positions of Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Advisor to the Prime Minister and Chairman of the University Grants Commission.
Dr Singh’s commitment to development and his many achievements have been recognized through the many honours that have been conferred upon him. These include the Padma Vibhushan in 1987, the Euro Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year in 1993, the Asia Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year in both 1993 and 1994 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award of the Indian Science Congress in 1995.
However, Dr Manmohan Singh is known not only for his vision that led India to become an economic powerhouse but also for his hard-work and his humble, soft-spoken demeanor. He is a Prime Minister who will be remembered not only for the leaps and bounds by which he took India forward but also as a man of thought and of integrity.
