An economist, a bureaucrat, a finance minister, and finally a Prime Minister. Different stages of Manmohan Singh’s career were marked by momentous developments that will be discussed for long. Here are five landmark events of his political journey: The ‘91 liberalisation efforts Singh became the Finance Minister during the PV Narasimha Rao tenure in 1991. At the time, India was facing a balance of payments crisis; had foreign exchange only for the purchase of two-three weeks of imports; and had to even mortgage its gold. Through his 1991 Budget, Singh brought in structural reforms as advocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank; ended the licence raj system that made it difficult for businesses to operate; reduced tariffs and opened up the economy for private investment. Many on the Left criticised Singh’s reforms as paving the way for neoliberalism and the dictates of global capital, but the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation package that Singh unveiled set the road map for economic growth in India. The Indo-American Nuclear Deal As Prime Minister of India, Singh invested heavily in the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, going to the extent of endangering his own government for it. In his first term in power — between 2004-2009 — Singh and the Congress were dependent on support from the Left parties who had 61 MPs in the Lok Sabha. CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat led the offensive against the Nuclear deal, accusing Singh of capitulation to Western powers. The BJP, too, was critical of it. The Left eventually pulled out of the government, necessitating a no-trust motion. But Singh stood his ground and survived a no-confidence motion. As part of the deal, Singh cited India's exemplary record in nuclear non-proliferation. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved the safeguards agreement with India on August 1, 2008. The US then approached the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for an India-specific waiver to be able to start civilian nuclear trade. The NSG granted the waiver to India on September 6, 2008, allowing India access to civilian nuclear technology and fuel. The agreement was signed on October 10, 2008. RTI, RTE, MNREGA Singh’s government also brought landmark laws that were seen as empowering for citizens. The Right To Information (RTI) Act was introduced in 2005 and gave citizens the right to request information from public authorities. The following year, Singh passed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that continues to guarantee 100 days of employment a year to every rural household in the country. The Right to Education Act was passed in 2009, and guaranteed free and compulsory education for every child between the age of six and 14. In 2013, Singh passed the National Food Security Act to provide subsidised food grain to 75 per cent of rural population and 50 per cent of urban population. Steering India through the 2008 crisis Singh also helped India traverse and get through the global economic crisis of 2008. The government announced three stimulus packages in three months between December 2008 and February 2009, totalling Rs 1,86,000 crore, or 3.5 per cent of the GDP. After doing better than what the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act had required in 2007-08, India’s fiscal deficit touched 6 per cent of the GDP in 2008-09. It was 2.7 per cent in the previous year. Over seven months between October 2008 and April 2009, the RBI eased monetary conditions. Its unorthodox measures made available Rs 5,60,000 crore (about 9 per cent of the GDP) in domestic and external liquidity. The government continued with the stimulus packages in 2009-10 too, and the fiscal deficit touched 6.4 per cent of the GDP. The economy staged an impressive rebound. From 9 per cent-plus in the previous three years, it dropped to 6.7 per cent in 2008-09, and then bounced back to 8.5 per cent in 2009-10. The stimulus package was, however, not withdrawn after the crisis blew over. Efforts for protecting minorities Singh also stayed in the news for his initiatives for minorities. It was under his tenure that the government appointed both the Sachar Committee and the Ranganath Mishra Committee in the 2000s to address backwardness in the Muslim community. The Sachar Committee recommended multiple policies to ensure the development of Muslims, while the Mishra Committee recommended that SC status be made religion-neutral to provide benefits of reservation to Dalit converts to Islam. At a meeting of the National Development Council in December 2006, where Chief Ministers of all states were present, Singh addressed the “potentialities and inherent strengths of our economy, while also addressing the areas of concerns”. “I believe our collective priorities are clear. Agriculture, irrigation and water resources, health, education, critical investment in rural infrastructure, and the essential public investment needs of general infrastructure, along with programmes for the upliftment of SC/STs, other backward classes, minorities and women and children,” he said. He went on to add that we would have to “devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development”. “They must have the first claim on resources. The Centre has a myriad other responsibilities whose demands will have to be fitted within the overall resource availability. The Planning Commission will of course undertake a thorough review of ongoing programmes to eliminate those which have outlived their original rationale, but we cannot escape from the fact that the Centre’s resources will be stretched in the immediate future and an increasing share of the responsibility will have to be shouldered by the states,” he had said.
