Manmohan Singh Biodata

Birth Name : Manmohan Singh

Date of birth : 26/09/1932

Place of birth : Gah, Punjab, British India

Manmohan Singh is the 13th and Prime Minister of India. A renowned economist, he is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term, and the first Sikh to hold the office. He was born on September 26, 1932 at Gah, Punjab, British India, to 'Gurmakh Singh Kohli' and 'Krishna Kaur'. He is married 'Gursharan Kaur' on 14 September 1958. He has three chidren 'Upinder Kaur', 'Daman', 'Amrit'. He lost his mother when he was very young and was raised by his paternal grandmother, to whom he was very close. He studied at Hindu College Amritsar. He attended Panjab University, Chandigarh, then in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, studying Economics and got his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1952 and 1954, respectively, standing first throughout his academic career. He completed his Economics Tripos at University of Cambridge as he was a member of St John's College in 1957. After Cambridge, Singh returned to India to his teaching position at Punjab University.

Awards

2010 World Statesman Award from Appeal of Conscience Foundation in 2010

Top 100 Influential People in the World from Time in 2005

Outstanding Parliamentarian Award from Indian Parliamentary Group in 2002

Annasaheb Chirmule Award from Annasaheb Chirmule Trust in 2000

H.H. Kanchi Sri Paramacharya Award for Excellence from Shri R. Venkataraman, The Centenarian Trust in 1999

Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi from National Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1999

Lokmanya Tilak Award from Tilak Smarak Trust, Pune in 1997

Justice K.S. Hegde Foundation Award from Justice K.S. Hegde Foundation in 1997

Nikkei Asia prize for Regional Growth from Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. in 1997

Honorary Professorship from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi in 1996

Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award (1994–95) from Indian Science Congress Association in 1995

Finance Minister of the Year from Asiamoney in 1994

Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award (1994–95) from Indian Science Congress Association in 1994

Elected Distinguished Fellow of the London School of Economics from London School of Economics, Centre for Asia Economy, Politics and Society in 1994

Elected Honorary Fellow, Nuffield College from Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford, U.K. in 1994

Elected Distinguished Fellow of the London School of Economics from London School of Economics, Centre for Asia Economy, Politics and Society in 1994

Elected Honorary Fellow of the All India Management Association from All India Management Association in 1994

Finance Minister of the Year from Euromoney in 1993

Finance Minister of the Year from Asiamoney in 1993

Padma Vibhushan from President of India 1987

Elected National Fellow, National Institute of Education from National Institute of Education in 1986

Elected President of the Indian Economic Association from Indian Economic Association in 1985

Elected Honorary Fellow, St. John's College from St John's College, Cambridge in 1982

Elected Honorary Fellow, Indian Institute of Bankers from Indian Institute of Bankers in 1982

Honorary Professorship from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 1976

Elected Wrenbury Scholar from University of Cambridge, U.K. in 1957

Adam Smith Prize from University of Cambridge, U.K. in 1956

Wright Prize for Distinguished Performance from St. John’s College, Cambridge, U.K. in 1955

Uttar Chand Kapur Medal, for standing first in M.A. (Economics) from Panjab University, Chandigarh in 1954

University Medal for standing first in B.A. (Honors Economics) from Panjab University, Chandigarh in 1952

Position Held

1972 to 1974 Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform

1972 to 1976 Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, India

1982 to 1985 Governor, Reserve Bank of India

1985 President, Indian Economic Association

1985 to 1987 Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission

1991 to 1996 Union Finance Minister in the Narasimha Rao government

1991 Elected to the Rajya Sabha

1995 Re-elected to the Rajya Sabha

Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha

Academic Posts

1957-59 Senior Lecturer in Economics, Punjab University, Chandigarh

1959-63 Reader in Economics, Punjab University, Chandigarh

1963-65 Professor in Economics, Punjab University, Chandigarh

1969-71 Professor of International Trade, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi

1976 Honorary Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

1982 Honorary Fellow, St John's College, Cambridge UK

1982 Honorary Fellow, Indian Institute of Bankers

1986 National Fellow, National Institute of Education, NCERT

1993 Honorary Fellow, All India Management Association

1994 Honorary Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford

1996 Honorary Professor at Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi

Early Life

Between 1966–1969 He worked as the advisor of Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 1969, Singh became a Professor of International Trade at the Delhi School of Economics. In 1972, Singh was Chief Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance and in 1976 he was Secretary in the Finance Ministry. In 1980-1982 he was at the Planning Commission, and in 1982, he was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India under then Finance Minister. He went on to become the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India from 1985 to 1987. Following his tenure at the Planning Commission, he was Secretary General of the South Commission, an independent economic policy think tank headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland from 1987 to November 1990.

In June 1991, India's Prime Minister at the time, P.V. Narasimha Rao, chose Singh to be his Finance Minister. Singh told Mark Tully the British journalist in 2005 On the day was formulating his cabinet. Singh was first elected to the upper house of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, in 1991 by the legislature of the state of Assam, and was re-elected in 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2013. From 1998 to 2004, while the 'Bharatiya Janata Party' was in power, Singh was the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. In 1999, he contested for the Lok Sabha from South Delhi but was unable to win the seat.

As prime minister

In 2004 general elections, the Indian National Congress ended the incumbent National Democratic Alliance (NDA) tenure by becoming the political party with the single largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. It formed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) with allies and staked claim to form government. In a surprise move, Chairperson 'Sonia Gandhi' declared 'Manmohan Singh', a technocrat, as the UPA candidate for the Prime Ministership. In 2005, Prime Minister Singh and his government's health ministry started the National Rural Health Mission, which has mobilised half a million community health workers. This rural health initiative was praised by the American economist Jeffrey Sachs. Singh's administration initiated a massive reconstruction effort in Kashmir to stabilise the region but after some period of success, insurgent infiltration and terrorism in Kashmir has increased since 2009. However, the Singh administration has been successful in reducing terrorism in Northeast India.

On 22 May 2009, Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the Prime Minister during a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The 2009 Indian general election was the largest democratic election in the world held to date, with an eligible electorate of 714 million. The 2012 report filed by the CAG in Parliament of India states that due to allocation of coal blocks to certain private companies without bidding process the nation suffered estimated loss of Rs 1.85 lakh crore between 2005 to 2009 in which Manmohan Singh was the coal minister of India.