Prime Minister of India

Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

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 Panjab 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.

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 by the Japanese Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

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.

Pratibha Patil, President of India

Pratibha Patil, President of India

Name : Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil

Father’s Name : Shri Narayan Rao

Date of Birth : 19th December, 1934

Place of Birth : Distt. Jalgaon (Maharashtra)

Marital Status : Married on 7th July, 1965

Spouse’s Name : Sh. Devisingh Ransingh Shekhawat

Children : One son & one daughter

Educational Qualifications : M.A., LL.B.Educated at M.J. College, Jalgaon (Maharashtra) & Govt. Law College, Bombay.

Profession : Social worker, practiced as Advocate at Jalgaon.

Permanent Address :

(a) 57, New Congress Nagar, Opp. Govt. Milk Scheme, Amravati (Maharashtra)

(b) 1701, Wainganga, Worli Sagar Cooperative Housing Society, Pochkhanwala Road, Worli, Bombay – 400 018.

Present Address :

Raj Bhawan, Civil Lines, Jaipur. Tel. (0141) 2228792 (Secretary), 2228716 (PBX) Fax (0141) 2228737 (ADC)
Political Career

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Governor of Rajasthan: November 8, 2004 – present
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Member of Parliament(Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha): 1985 – 1996
Constituency: Amravati

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Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly: 1962 – 1985
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Deputy Minister, Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism, Housing and Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of Maharasthra: 1967-72
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Cabinet Minister, Social Welfare, Govt. of Maharashtra: 1972-74
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Cabinet Minister, Public Health and Social Welfare, Maharasthra: 1974-75
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Cabinet Minister, Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Maharashtra: 1975-76
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Cabinet Minister, Education, Govt. of Maharashtra: 1977-78
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Leader of Opposition, CLP(I), Govt. of Maharashtra: 1979-1980
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Cabinet Minister, Urban Development and Housing,
Govt. of Maharashtra: 1982-85

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Cabinet Minister, Civil Supplies and Social Welfare,
Govt. of Maharashtra : 1983-85

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Elected to Rajya Sabha: June, 1985-90
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Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha: 1986-1988
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Chairman, Committee on Privileges, Rajya Sabha Member, Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha: 1986-88
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Elected to 10th Lok Sabha Chairperson, House Committee, Lok Sabha: 1991
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Governor of Rajasthan: 8 November 2004

Pratibha patil’s Family Life
Born into the wealthy Jalgaon town of Maharashtra, Pratibha Patil was married to Devisingh Shekhawat of Amravati in Vidarbha 42 years ago. They have one sone and one daughter.

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Prathibha Patil is a post-graduate in arts and law, having studied both in the small town and in Mumbai. She was first elected to the Maharashtra assembly in 1962. She remained a member of the house until 1988.

From 1967 to 1972, she was a deputy minister in the Maharashtra government, and then from 1972 to 1978 was a cabinet minister in the state holding several portfolios. She was the opposition leader in the Maharashtra assembly in 1979-80.

For two years from 1986, Pratibha Patil was deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Widely travelled, she was last elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991, in the general election marred by the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Besides having been president of the Maharashtra Congress chapter, she is credited with establishing hostels for “working women” in Mumbai and New Delhi, an engineering college at Jalgaon for rural youth, a women’s cooperative bank also at Jalgaon, and schools for poor children in Maharashtra.