Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh passed away at the age of 92 on December 26, 2024. 

Dr. Manmohan Singh served as Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014 and was affiliated with India’s National Congress Party. Singh was the first Sikh politician to become a leader of India. According to Reuters, “Singh, the first Sikh to lead his nation, was prime minister from 2004 to 2014, serving a rare two terms. He had been undergoing care for age-related medical conditions.”

Former PM Dr. Singh’s story is one that impacts many generations of young Indians, including those who were affected by the 1947 Partition of India. Business Standard summarizes Dr. Singh’s early life, saying that he was “A 15-year-old Sikh refugee boy in newly independent India, whose family had fled from Pakistan during the subcontinent’s 1947 partition, he went on to study economics at Oxford and Cambridge and built an impressive career as a top technocrat.” They go on to say that “Singh and his colleagues were able to convince us that in a post-socialist, market-led economy, we, too, would be free to chase our dreams. With education and hard work, our lives, too, would be vastly better than our parents’; upward mobility would no longer be an exclusive preserve of the privileged.”

Notable Things Dr. Singh has Done During his Term as Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh had apologized for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. According to BBC, “Singh formally apologised to the nation in 2005 in parliament, saying the violence were ‘the negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our constitution.’” 

This act signifies that Dr. Singh does not see hatred towards any community. According to Newsreel Asia, “Manmohan Singh was never known to express hatred toward any community. In fact, he is recognised for his spirit of admission and reconciliation.” They continued by noting how, “In August 2005, about a year after taking office, Dr. Singh issued an apology in the Lok Sabha for the 1984 violence against Sikhs, in which some leaders of his party, the Congress, were implicated.” 

In 2005, former PM Dr. Singh made an agreement with former U.S. President George W. Bush on nonviolent use of nuclear energy. According to Business Standard, “The civil nuclear deal’s journey began on July 18, 2005, when Singh and then US President George W Bush announced an agreement to cooperate in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Speaking at a joint session of the US Congress on July 19, Singh emphasised India’s impeccable record in nuclear non-proliferation despite challenges posed by unchecked proliferation in its neighbourhood.” 

EdexLIVE reports, “The Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) said Singh’s legacy lives on through the RTE Act. ‘As he once said, ‘Education is the key to unlocking a nation’s potential.’ The RTE ensures that every child, regardless of background, has access to quality education, empowering them to shape a brighter tomorrow,’ it noted in a post on X.”

Singh also introduced a scheme to improve the livelihoods of people living in the rural areas. BBC reports, “He also introduced a rural employment scheme which guaranteed livelihood for a minimum of 100 days, a measure economists said had a profound impact on rural incomes and poverty reduction.”

Additionally, Singh introduced a policy to enhance financial inclusion among the poor in India. The BBC states that “His government also introduced a unique identity project called Aadhar to improve financial inclusion and delivery of welfare benefits to the poor. The current federal government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has continued to keep Aadhar as a cornerstone for many of its policies.” 

The 1947 India-Pakistan Partition Impact on Manmohan Singh

Singh was born to a Khatri family in 1932 in West Punjab (present day Pakistan) in a village in the Chakwal district known as Gah. Due to the dark times during that period, Singh had declined visiting his village. In 2019, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal mentioned why Singh had not visited his ancestral place in Pakistan. According to the Indian Express, Badal stated that he “once asked Manmohan Singh when he was the prime minister whether he wanted to visit his ancestral place at Chakwal in Pakistan. He said he did not go as there are painful memories associated with the place.” 

Specifically, the painful memories that Manmohan Singh had experienced involved the killing of his grandfather. The Indian Express reports that “Singh had migrated to India from Gah village of Chakwal in Pakistan carrying the horrifying childhood memories of partition including the killing of his paternal grandfather Sant Singh in the riots.”

His school life was affected by the turmoil as he had to retake classes due to final grades being halted from the chaos. Newsreel Asia mentions that “Singh’s family subsequently relocated to Amritsar in the Indian side of Punjab, where they attempted to rebuild their lives. Singh had to retake his final school examinations after the original results were never announced due to the tumult.” 

Manmohan Singh represents a population of people who had to flee cities like Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sheikhpura, Peshawar, Karachi and other cities that are now considered to be in Pakistan to what is now India due to communal violence. Reportedly, “Like numerous others, Dr. Singh and his family suffered in one of the most traumatic events in the subcontinent’s history, which involved large-scale violence and the mass migration of people across the newly drawn borders. The estimates of the number of deaths suggest that between 200,000 and 2 million people died on both sides of the border as a result of the communal violence.”

Keeping his Childhood Village Close to His Heart

Manmohan Singh’s village where he grew up was still in his heart. On October 5, 2004, he wrote a letter to the people in that village after becoming PM of India. According to the Indian Express, months after Singh became PM and the residents of his village sent him gifts, he wrote a letter saying, “Chakwali jooton ki ek jodi ke hamrah, mere aabai kasbey ke purane school imtihaan ke nateejey ki ek naqal irsaal karne ke aapke iss amal se main bada mutasir huya. Ye riwaayati jootein wahaan guzre mere bachpan ki bahut si yaadon ko taaza karne ka baais ban gai hain. Mere maazi ko yaad dilaane wali inn cheezon ko irsaal karne ke liye main aapka behadd shukr guzaar hu..aapke mukhlis Manmohan Singh.”

He had a reunion with a childhood friend Raja Mohammad Ali who passed away years prior after he went to Delhi to see Singh. NDTV reports, after Dr. Singh assumed office in 2004, news reached his Pakistani village wanting old classmate Mr. Ali to reconnect. Apparently, “The two were close friends before Partition. He would affectionately call Dr Singh by his childhood nickname, ‘Mohna’. They studied together in the same primary school.”

After his passing, the village of Gah now mourns the former Indian Prime Minister. According to Amu, “As the village mourns, its residents reflect on the extraordinary journey of a boy who started his life in Gah and rose to lead India through a transformative decade, leaving behind a legacy of economic stewardship and international diplomacy.” 

Singh’s Academic Career and Years as Minister of Finance 

Manmohan Singh’s academic career ventures from India to the United Kingdom. According to the Indian National Congress, “He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Economics from Panjab University in 1952 and 1954 respectively. He completed his Economic Tripos from Cambridge University in 1957. He followed this with a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University in 1962.”

After he completed his education, Singh went on to teach at Panjab University and Delhi University. According to Indian English-language daily newspaper, The Hindu, Dr. Singh became a Professor in Economics at Panjab University in 1963 and was made Honorary Professor at Delhi School of Economics in 1966.  

Accorinding to Nuffield College, “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.” 

From 1991 to 1996, Singh was India’s Minister of Finance. During his term as the Minister of Finance, he helped India become a free market. NPR reports that in 1991, Singh drafted one of the most radical budgets opening up the country to a free market. 

With Singh’s help, India had changed from being a socialist market. Prior to 1991, India’s market was a socialist, public sector-dominated, and import-restricted economy making the situation critical for Dr. Singh, according to NPR.

Conclusion

In summary, Manmohan Singh did many notable things during his tenure as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. Singh had made an apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. He signed a deal with former US president George W. Bush on a peaceful nuclear use agreement. Manmohan Singh had also signed an agreement to help kids – no matter what their background was – access education. Manmohan Singh represents those who lived through the 1947 Partition of India and keeps his childhood village close to his heart.