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Personal Profile
[Hindi Version]
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Prime
Minister of India
Personal Profile
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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 Punjab
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.
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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 the Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
Dr. Singh is a recipient of honorary degrees from many
universities including the Universities of Cambridge and
Oxford.
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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