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.
Born: September 26, 1932,Gah
Spouse: Gursharan Kaur
Children: Amrit Singh, Upinder Singh, Daman Singh
Life is never free of contradictions.
From the beginning, as a thinking student of 15, 16 years ago, I was troubled by the grim poverty that I saw around me.
India happens to be a rich country inhabited by very poor people.
Our vision is not just of economic growth, but also of a growth which would improve the life of the common man.
If we work together, we can overcome these problems.
It would be wrong to promise early results.
The most important outcome has been the adoption of a joint action plan … which provides the framework, a road map for identifying pathways for future cooperation.
Together, with international unity and resolve, we can meet the challenge of this international scourge
Education, inter-faith dialogue and the culture of tolerance should be promoted.
My mind is open to new ideas. If this is based on good intentions, I have place in my heart for all of you.
We are a mixed economy. We will remain a mixed economy. The public and private sector will continue to play a very important role. The private sector in our country has very ample scope and I am confident that India’s entrepreneurs have the capacity, and the will to rise to the occasion.
I can assure you we are a responsible nuclear power.
Religious tolerance has been our basis of culture. I hope today this message will spread from here to different parts of the world.
I am what I am because of my education
Sometimes in life it is wise to be foolish!
My top most priority is to deal with India’s massive social and economic problems, so that chronic poverty, ignorance and disease can be conquered in a reasonably short period of time.
It is a struggle for the minds of the people… No cause justifies recourse to terrorism.
The people of India have the will, capacity and resolution to win the war against terrorism.
Inspiring Life of Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh was born into a family of modest means in the village of Gah in Pakistan. For the first 12 years of his life he lived there, a village which had no electricity, no school, no hospital, no piped drinking water.
He walked for miles every day to school and studied at night in the dim light of a kerosene lamp. When asked once why he had poor eyesight he confessed that it was because he had spent hours reading books in that dim light.
It was his hard work that enabled him to finish his schooling and attend college in Amritsar, where he lived after the Partition. He then won a scholarship to go to Cambridge University in England to do his Master’s in Economics. Another scholarship helped him complete his PhD.
He won the coveted Adam Smith Prize in Economics for his outstanding academic record. He always stood first and was a brilliant student.
His life will always be an inspiration to young people who want to work hard and achieve something based on their learning.
No rich parents, no influential uncles, no wealth, no inheritance, no one to pull strings and ‘put in a word’ – it was always his merit, his hard work, his honesty, his intelligence and, above all, his deep love for India that energised him. Every young Indian should feel inspired by the life of Manmohan Singh!
Excerpts from career360
