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Manmohan Singh during his swearing-in ceremony in 2004
Indians have been reflecting on former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's contribution to the country since his death on Thursday evening.
Singh, who held the top job for two consecutive terms between 2004 and 2014, was considered the architect of India's economic liberalization that changed the country's growth trajectory.
The first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru's return to power, Singh was also the first Sikh to assume the highest office.
Known as a soft-spoken technocrat, he had previously headed India's central bank, served as finance secretary and minister, and led the opposition in the upper house of Parliament.
Here are five milestones in Singh's life that shaped his career and had a lasting impact on over a billion Indians.
Economic liberalization
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Singh led the initiative to deregulate the economy in the 1990s.
Singh was appointed finance minister in 1991 by the Congress party-led government led by Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao.
The Indian economy was then facing a serious financial crisis, with the country's foreign exchange reserves at a dangerously low level, barely enough to pay for two weeks of imports.
Singh led the initiative to deregulate the economy to avert its collapse, which he said was otherwise imminent. Despite strong opposition from members of his government and his party, Singh won his case.
He took bold steps, including devaluing the currency, reducing import duties, and privatizing state-owned enterprises.
He reportedly told Parliament during his first budget speech in 1991 that “no power on Earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”
Later, as Prime Minister, Singh continued to build on his economic reform measures, lifting millions of Indians out of poverty and contributing to India's rise as one of the world's leading economies. the fastest growing in the world.
A reluctant Prime Minister
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Opposition parties have often criticized Singh for following the Gandhi family's instructions, but he has always shrugged off the mockery.
The Congress party made a comeback in the 2004 elections, inflicting a surprise defeat on the government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was widely expected to take over as head of government, but many in the outgoing ruling party have raised questions about the fact that she was born in Italy. She declined to accept the position and instead put forward the name of Singh, who was seen as a non-controversial consensus candidate with high personal integrity.
In the next parliamentary elections, he helped his party win a bigger mandate, but critics have often called him a “remote-controlled” prime minister managed by the Gandhi family.
Singh has often refused to comment on such allegations and has remained focused on his work.
He may have started his first term as prime minister with some reluctance, but he quickly asserted his authority in this highest office.
Singh's tenure, particularly between 2004 and 2009, saw the country's GDP grow at a healthy average rate of around 8%, the second fastest among major economies.
He made bold decisions on reforms and attracted more foreign investment to the country. Experts credit him with shielding India from the 2008 global financial crisis.
But his second term, in alliance with a disparate group of parties, was marked by allegations of corruption against some of his ministers, although his personal integrity was never called into question.
In response to these allegations, he told reporters in 2014, during his final press conference as prime minister, that he hoped history would judge him differently.
“I sincerely believe that history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or even the opposition parties in Parliament,” he said.
“I think taking into account the circumstances and the constraints of a coalition regime, I did the best I could under those circumstances.”
Rights to education, information and identity
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Singh introduced laws that had a huge impact on Indian democracy
As Prime Minister, Singh made several far-reaching decisions that continue to impact the health of Indian democracy even today.
He introduced new laws that strengthen and guarantee the right to seek information from the government, giving citizens extraordinary power to hold officials accountable.
He also introduced a rural employment program guaranteeing livelihoods for at least 100 days, a measure that economists say has had a profound impact on rural incomes and poverty reduction.
He also introduced a law guaranteeing the right to free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14, thereby significantly reducing the school dropout rate.
His government also introduced a unique identity project called Aadhar to improve financial inclusion and provision of social benefits to the poor. The current federal government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has continued to make Aadhar the cornerstone of many of its policies.
Apology for anti-Sikh riots
In 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards to avenge a military action she had ordered against separatists hiding in Sikhism's holiest temple in Amritsar, in northern India.
His death sparked massive violence that resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 Sikhs and widespread destruction of their property.
Singh formally apologized to the nation in 2005 in Parliament, saying the violence was “the negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our constitution.”
“I have no hesitation in apologizing to the Sikh community. I apologize not only to the Sikh community, but to the entire Indian nation,” he said.
No other prime minister, especially from the Congress party, had gone so far to apologize to Parliament for the riots.
Deal with us
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Singh signed a historic agreement with the United States in 2008 to end India's nuclear isolation.
Singh signed a historic agreement with the United States in 2008 to end India's nuclear isolation following its testing of the weapons system in 1998.
His government argued that the deal would help meet India's growing energy needs and maintain its healthy growth rate.
The deal, seen as a turning point in India-US relations, promised to grant India a waiver to begin civil nuclear trade with the United States and the rest of the world.
But the deal faced massive opposition, with critics alleging it would compromise India's sovereignty and independence in foreign policy. In protest, the Left Front withdrew its support for the government alliance.
Singh, however, managed to save both his government and the agreement.
