Veteran Congress leader and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh turned 88 today who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004-2014.  He was the first Sikh in the office which became the PM since Jawaharlal Nehru re-elected after achieving a five year. And before even becoming the PM his most eminent moment was guiding in the 1991 economic reforms under the Narasimha Rao government.

Singh was born in Gah, Punjab, British of India in 1932 but then was migrated to Amritsar with his parents post-partition. Then in 1952, he got a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Hindu College and a Master’s Degree in Economics from the Punjab University.  Singh then went to University of Cambridge as being the member of St. John’s College and finished his Economics Tripos in 1957. He further went to the University of Oxford as he was a member of Nuffield College and did his Doctoral Thesis under Jan Malcolm David Little in 1960.

After finishing his doctoral studies, he returned to Delhi till 1966, but then he persisted in working at the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) in 1966 and 1969.

In between 1969 and 1971, Manmohan served as Professor of International Trade at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi. Between 1972 & 1976 he worked as Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance & served as Secretary in the Ministry of Finance after that.

 Then in 1980 and 1985, he worked at the planning commission. He was assigned as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India till 1985. He enhanced the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission between 1985 and 1987.

In 1991 he enhanced as a member of the upper-house of elected representatives in parliament, the Rajya Sabha. Between 1998 & 2004 Singh was the leader of the Opposition which was BJP in the Rajya Sabha. In 2004 General Elections, Congress-led UPA government dismissed NDA government after gracing the party with the sole largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. Then, party president, Sonia Gandhi announced Manmohan Singh as UPA candidate for Premiership. On 22nd May 2004 Manmohan Singh took oath as the 13th Prime Minister of India.

Here are some achievements of Dr Monmohan Singh-

Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act 2005– On 23rd June 2005 the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act 2005 obtained the permission of the President of India, and the Act came into the drive with the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Rules 2006 on 10th February 2006.

Right To Information (RTI) Act 2005– This is an Act which aims to promote transparency in government institutions in India and was conceived in 2005 after persistent efforts of anti-corruption activists. On 15th June 2005 RTI  made through legislation of the parliament and on 12th October 2005, the Act came into effect.

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission- On 3rd December this scheme was inaugurated by PM Manmohan Singh which was a large scale city modernisation drive under the Ministry of Urban Development. This scheme is a set up as a program to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in cities. The plan was initially launched in 2005 for seven years to initiate steps for bringing phased improvements in civic service level.

Mobile Number Portability (MNP) 2011– Dr Manmohan Singh started the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service after making a call to Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Communications and IT,  from a ported number. He praised the Telecom Sector for the introduction of MNP, and for being the fastest-growing telecom market in the world.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) Act 2005– In 2005 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduced the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) . This scheme aims at providing livelihood, sustenance and employment to rural communities and labourers in India.

Article Written by Dikhya Mohanty

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