India’s former prime minister Manmohan Singh dies aged 92 | News

BREAKBREAK,

Singh, 92, reigned as India’s 14th Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014.

Former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who ruled the South Asian country for two terms and liberalized the economy as finance minister in an earlier term, has died. He was 92.

Singh, an economist and politician who also served as central bank governor, was ailing and was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi late Thursday.

His health deteriorated due to the “sudden loss of consciousness at home,” the hospital said in a statement. He is “being treated for age-related illnesses,” the statement continued.

It is with deep sadness that we announce that the former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, passed away at the age of 92. He was being treated for age-related illnesses and suddenly lost consciousness at home on December 26, 2024. Resuscitation measures were required and began immediately… pic.twitter.com/ZX9NakKo7Y

– ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2024

A mild-mannered technocrat, Singh became one of India’s longest-serving prime ministers for ten years, from 2004 to 2014, and earned a reputation as a man of great personal integrity.

“India mourns the loss of one of its most respected leaders, Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. He praised the work of the economist-turned-politician.

Singh was born into a poor family in a part of British-ruled India that is now in Pakistan. He studied by candlelight to secure a place at Cambridge University before going to Oxford and completing his doctorate with a thesis on the role of exports and free trade in the Indian economy.

He became a respected economist, then governor of India’s central bank and government adviser, but had no apparent plans for a political career when he was suddenly appointed finance minister in 1991.

During this term until 1996, Singh was the architect of reforms that rescued India’s economy from a severe balance of payments crisis, promoting deregulation and other measures that opened an island country to the world.

Singh’s rise to prime ministership in 2004 was even more unexpected.

He was asked to take over the post by Sonia Gandhi, who led the center-left Congress party to a surprise victory. As a native of Italy, she feared that if she were to lead the country, her heritage would be exploited by Hindu nationalist opponents to attack the government.

During an unprecedented period of economic growth, Singh’s government shared the spoils of the country’s newfound wealth and introduced welfare programs such as an employment program for the rural poor.

In 2008, his administration also reached a landmark agreement that allowed peaceful trade in nuclear energy with the United States for the first time in three decades, paving the way for close ties between New Delhi and Washington.

However, his efforts to further open the Indian economy often failed due to political disputes within his own party and demands from coalition partners.