Manmohan Singh’s decisions that shaped the lives of a billion

People in India have since been reflecting on former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s contribution to the country his death on Thursday evening.

Singh, who held the top post for two consecutive terms between 2004 and 2014, was seen as the architect of India’s economic liberalization, which changed the country’s growth trajectory.

Singh was the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru’s return to power and also the first Sikh to assume the top office.

Known as a quiet technocrat, he had previously headed India’s central bank, served as finance minister and minister and led the opposition in the upper house of parliament.

Here are five milestones from Singh’s life that shaped his career and had a lasting impact on more than a billion Indians.

Singh was appointed Finance Minister in 1991 by the Congress Party-led government of Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao.

India’s economy was in a severe financial crisis at the time, and the country’s foreign reserves were at dangerously low levels, barely enough to pay for two weeks’ worth of imports.

Singh led the initiative to deregulate the economy to prevent its collapse, which he said was imminent otherwise. Despite strong opposition from members of his government and party, Singh prevailed.

He took bold measures, including devaluing the currency, reducing import tariffs and privatizing state-owned companies.

In his first budget speech in 1991, he was quoted as saying that “no power in the world can stop an idea whose time has come”.

Later, as Prime Minister, Singh further expanded his economic reform measures, lifting millions of Indians out of poverty and contributing to India’s emergence as one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies.

The Congress party made a comeback in the 2004 elections, handing the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a surprise defeat.

Congresswoman Sonia Gandhi was widely expected to lead the government, but many in the outgoing ruling party questioned the fact that she was born in Italy. She declined to take up the post and instead put forward Singh’s name, who was considered an uncontroversial consensus candidate of great personal integrity.

He helped his party win a larger mandate in the next general election, but critics often described him as a “remote-controlled” prime minister led by the Gandhi family.

Singh often refused to comment on such allegations and remained focused on work.

He may have begun his first term as prime minister with some reluctance, but he soon stamped his authority on the top job.

During Singh’s tenure, particularly between 2004 and 2009, the country’s GDP grew at a healthy average pace of around 8%, the second fastest among major economies.

He made bold reform decisions and brought more foreign investment into the country. Experts credit him with protecting India from the 2008 global financial crisis.

But his second term, in which he allied himself with a diverse group of parties, was marked by corruption allegations against some of his cabinet ministers, although his personal integrity was never questioned.

In response to these allegations, he told reporters in his final press conference as prime minister in 2014 that he hoped history would judge him differently.

“I honestly 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 constraints of coalition politics, I did the best I could do in the circumstances.”

As Prime Minister, Singh made several far-reaching decisions that continue to impact the health of India’s democracy today.

He introduced new laws that strengthened and guaranteed the right to obtain information from the government and gave citizens extraordinary power to hold officials accountable.

He also introduced a rural employment program that guaranteed livelihoods for at least 100 days, a measure that economists said had a profound impact on rural incomes and poverty reduction.

He also introduced a law that guaranteed the right to free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 6 and 14, thereby significantly reducing the school dropout rate.

His government also introduced a first-of-its-kind identity project called Aadhar to improve financial inclusion and welfare provision for the poor. The current federal government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has continued to maintain Aadhar as the cornerstone of many of its policies.

In 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards to avenge a military operation she had ordered against separatists hiding in the Sikhs’ holiest temple in Amritsar, northern India.

Her death sparked massive violence that resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 Sikhs and widespread destruction of their property.

Singh made a formal apology to the nation in Parliament in 2005, 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 to the extent of apologizing in Parliament for the riots.

Singh signed a historic agreement with the US in 2008 to end India’s nuclear isolation after the country tested the weapons system in 1998.

His government argued that the agreement 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 US and the rest of the world.

However, it was met with massive resistance. Critics of the agreement claimed it would jeopardize India’s sovereignty and independence in foreign policy. In protest, the Left Front withdrew its support from the government alliance.

However, Singh managed to save both his government and the deal.