It's almost official: Manmohan Singh to be the next Prime Minister of India

Manmohan Singh: The quiet reforms architect

Wednesday, 19 May , 2004, 08:44

New Delhi: Soft-spoken Sikh, Manmohan Singh, who is tipped to become India's next Prime Minister, is hailed at home and abroad as the liberator of a once inward-looking economy.

The 71-year-old former Finance Minister had been expected to serve as Finance Minister under a Congress-led coalition government, with Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Minister.

But after Gandhi's dramatic decision to turn down the job in what was seen as a bid to shield her party from attacks by the BJP and other parties over her foreign birth, media reports said Singh was her choice for the post.

Political leaders and analysts agreed Singh would be the most acceptable substitute to lead a Congress-led alliance that includes communists and regional groups.

Born in Amritsar in Punjab in September 1932, Singh could be the first Sikh prime minister of the world's largest democracy.

He hails from a poor farming background and has said the first time he ever wore a tie was for his first job interview.

Singh studied at Oxford and once served as central bank governor, and is seen as the man who wrenched India out of the worst financial crisis in its modern history.

In 1991 hard currency reserves had sunk so low they covered less than a month of imports and India was on the brink of defaulting on its foreign loans.

Then Congress Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao appointed Singh as the Finance Minister and asked him to fix the problems.

Singh unleashed sweeping change, beginning the process of abolishing what was known as the "license raj", a system of economic management ruled by government monopolies, quotas and permits that dictated what firms could make.

To some, the shy, unassuming character who lives in a modest dwelling in New Delhi seemed an unlikely choice to be a financial fireman even though he was a respected economist and former senior civil servant.

Later Singh, who studied economics to find a way to eradicate poverty, said his time in the civil service had persuaded him big changes were needed.

"If you have a rigidly controlled economy, cut off from the rest of the world by infinite protection, nobody has any incentive to increase productivity and to bring new ideas," he recalled in a 2001 interview.

With Rao's support, Singh brought in changes that broke sharply with India's state-directed economics. He devalued the rupee to spur exports, loosened foreign investment rules, opened oil refining, telecommunications and the stock exchanges, slashed taxes and sought to cut through red tape ensnaring companies.

His efforts during the Congress's five-year stint in power bore fruit.

He rebuilt India's foreign reserves: they now stand at a record 118 billion dollars after being less than a billion.

Foreign investors rushed in, seeing India as one of the last virgin capitalist frontiers. Inflation halved to 8.5 percent from 17 percent; it now stands at just over four percent.

With the economy on a roll -- third-quarter growth was 10.4 percent -- Singh will have another chance to propel India forward if he becomes Prime Minister.

But some economists wonder if the task would be tougher for him this time round because Congress would be in power in an alliance that includes leftists and communists, whereas last time he had a free hand.

"He's the best architect for modern India as far the reform process is concerned. People have great regard for his ability to deliver. But the question is how much freedom he'll have with the leftists," said Motilal Oswal, chairman of Motilal Oswal Securities.

Singh said last week that the party's aim was to promote faster growth, ensure a social infrastructure and to alleviate poverty. "I don't think there will be any problem with the Left."

ping

It's pretty obvious that the Markets stood Ghandi down. It was about to be the end of India's economic boom if she walked right in to power.

Maybe. Or it could be this... or a combination...

Did Kalam’s poser have Sonia back off?

New Delhi, May 18: Speculation is rife about why Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reluctant to become Prime Minister of India.

One source reported that Sonia changed her mind because the President may have raised objections to her rights as a naturalised citizen during their meeting at noon on Tuesday. After being elected the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Sonia first expressed her reluctance on Monday night. She then relented and everybody thought the matter was settled. But the situation changed dramatically after she met President A P J Abdul Kalam at noon on Tuesday.

Her sudden change of mind strengthened speculation that all did not go well in that meeting. The President is said to have informed her that according to Section 5 of the Citizenship Act of 1955, she has no right to assume the office of the Prime Minister of India and that he was seeking the advice of the Supreme Court on this issue. Section 5 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 says the rights and privileges allowed to foreigners who become citizens by application (not by birth) are conditional upon the rights and privileges granted to Indians in the country of the concerned person’s origin (in this case Italy). The President reportedly told Sonia that he had to ascertain the legal position in this matter as there was no confirmation that all the rights and privileges granted to persons of Italian origin are reciprocated by Italy in the case of Indians who become citizens of that country.

Sonia is said to have decided not to take the risk after the President’s briefing. It should also be noted that the President, in his letter on Monday, invited her only to “discuss” assuming the post of Prime Minister, and not to assume office. Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who met the President earlier, reportedly argued that Sonia was not eligible to become Prime Minister as it contravened the provisions of the Citizenship Act.

CPI-M Somnath Chatterjee said that her children, Priyanka and Rahul, objected to her taking up the post because they feared for her life. “Her children say they have lost their father and do not want to lose their mother. We cannot give any assurance. This is a violent country,” Chatterjee said. Others gave more credit to the agitation threats by K Govindacharya, Uma Bharti and Sushma Swaraj. Some also asked whether she was resorting to dramatics to extract rock-solid assurances from internal and external rivals. Sources also said she may have been apprehensive about her ability to face the onslaught of BJP stalwarts like Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani in Parliament.

That's mere cover for the economic move. Watch them place an economic guru in her stead. That will tell the real tale.

What shame. The other poor guy has already committed suicide.

You evidently missed this snippet of information.

Every jurisdiction needs a person of this acumen in charge. He almost single-handedly turned India from a bankrupt backwater into an economic success.

This is interesting. Singh apparently has a track record of economic liberalization, something I wouldn't have expected in the Congress Party. India's economic growth is directly related to loosening the government-controlled economy and privatization, and perhaps he will continue that trend.

Outsourcing continues.

-Pentagon and MOD continue close cooperation - re: Indian Navy and US Navy joint patrols in Molucca Straits and Bay of Bengal.

-Wet dreams of India bashers dashed.

-All the Communists want is for some outsourcing dollars to go into states like Bengal and Kerala where they run State govts.

-Voter perception of BJP as Bush's poodle - kowtowing to US demands not to attack Pak and risk nuke war, US hugging of MUsh, and insistence on treating Pak on parity with India (more perception than reality, but hey, that's what counts) damaging to BJP.

-Sonia's self sacrifice, strategic, as now NO ONE will be able to deny her kids their due when their turn comes.

Remember, MSingh, along with Rajiv Gandhi with Jack Welch of GE started this whole thing rolling 15 years or so ago.

Market drop was caused by foreign MBA lemming ignorant investors operating from conventional but wrong wisdom.