Singh, Manmohan

▪ 2005

      Manmohan Singh, who had been credited with saving India from economic collapse during his tenure as finance minister (1991–96), was appointed India's 14th prime minister on May 22, 2004; he was the first Sikh to hold the post. As prime minister Singh, one of India's most experienced policy makers and a highly regarded economist, repeatedly emphasized India's credentials as a multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual, pluralistic, and secular democracy. He stressed the need for increased economic growth, upward of 7% annually, and for India to be a more open economy and to live in peace with its neighbours.

      Singh was born on Sept. 26, 1932, in the village of Gah, Punjab province, British India (now in Pakistan), but after the 1947 partition he and his family migrated to India. After completing (1948) his undergraduate degree at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and serving a brief stint in teaching, he attended the University of Cambridge on scholarship and earned (1957) a first-class-honours degree in economics. Singh collected a doctorate (1962) in economics from Nuffield College, Oxford.

      Singh served on the faculties of Panjab University and the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, where his colleagues included Nobel economist Amartya Sen and international trade theorist Jagdish Bhagwati. From 1987 to 1990 Singh was secretary-general of the South Commission in Geneva.

      His career in government began in 1971, when he joined the government of India as economic adviser in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. In 1972 he was chief economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance. Among the many governmental positions that Singh held were secretary in the Ministry of Finance, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, governor of the Reserve Bank of India, adviser to 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, Singh spent five years as the country's finance minister, ushering in a comprehensive policy of economic reforms that became recognized worldwide. His book India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth (1964) was an early critique of India's inward-oriented trade policy and provided the direction for trade liberalization during his tenure as finance minister.

      Singh, who had never won a popular election (he was appointed to all of his posts), had been a member, at the invitation of the Congress Party, of India's Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) since 1991. There he was leader of the opposition from 1998 until the Congress Party won the general election in 2004. His appointment as prime minister came after Singh, one of the “cleanest” politicians in the country, was recommended by party leader Sonia Gandhi for the post.

      The most prominent among Singh's awards and honours included the Padma Vibhushan (1987), India's second highest civilian honour; 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); and the Euro Money Award for Finance Minister of the Year (1993).

Sanjaya Baru

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▪ prime minister of India

born September 26, 1932, Gah, West Punjab, India [now in Pakistan]

 

 Indian economist and politician, who became prime minister of India in 2004. A Sikh (Sikhism), he was the first non-Hindu to occupy the office.

      Singh attended Punjab University and the University of Cambridge in Great Britain. He later earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford. In the 1970s he was named to a series of economic advisory posts with the Indian government and became a frequent consultant to prime ministers. Singh also worked at the Reserve Bank of India, serving as director (1976–80) and governor (1982–85). When he was named finance minister in 1991, the country was on the verge of an economic collapse. Singh devalued the rupee, lowered taxes, privatized state-run industries, and encouraged foreign investment, reforms that helped transform the country's economy and spark an economic boom. A member of the Indian National Congress, he joined the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament) in 1991. Singh, who served as finance minister until 1996, ran for the Lok Sabha (lower house) in 1999 but was defeated.

      Congress won the May 2004 parliamentary elections, defeating the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress's leader, Sonia Gandhi (widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi (Gandhi, Rajiv)), declined the prime ministership, instead recommending Singh for the post. Singh subsequently formed a government and took office. His stated goals included helping improve conditions for India's poor (who generally had not benefited from the country's economic growth), securing peace with neighbouring Pakistan, and improving relations between India's various religious groups.

      Singh presided over a rapidly expanding economy, but rising fuel costs precipitated a marked increase in inflation that threatened the government's ability to provide subsidies for the country's poor. In an effort to meet India's growing energy demands, Singh in 2005 entered into negotiations with U.S. Pres. George W. Bush (Bush, George W.) for a nuclear cooperation pact. The deal called for India to receive fuel technology for nuclear plants and to be given the ability to purchase nuclear fuel on the world market. Abroad, the prospective cooperation agreement was resisted by those who were upset over India's refusal to sign the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Treaty on the); in India, Singh was criticized for fostering too close a relationship with the United States, which, his critics believed, would use the deal to leverage power in the Indian government. By 2008 progress on the deal prompted members of the government's Parliamentary majority—communist parties in particular—to denounce Singh's government and ultimately push for a confidence vote in Parliament in late July 2008. Singh's government narrowly survived the vote, but the process was marred by allegations—on both sides—of corruption and the purchasing of votes.

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