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Dr Manmohan Singh was an outstanding economist, an able administrator, and a visionary Prime Minister, who changed the face of India. He donned many hats, viz., Professor at the Delhi School of Economics. Chief Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Finance, Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Secretary-General of the South Commission, Finance Minister, and Prime Minister and donned all these hats extraordinarily well.

Together with PV Narasimha Rao, he brought about a paradigm shift from an India ridiculed for its “Hindu rate of growth”—an India that faced a catastrophic economic crisis stemming from the twin deficits of a balance-of-payments crisis and a huge fiscal deficit—to an India that achieved about 7 % steady growth and emerged as a growth driver of the global economy.

While advancing extensive economic reforms in India and scrapping license, permit, and quota raj to extricate India from an imminent economic disaster, he was fully conscious of the compelling need to promote “development with a human face,” financial inclusion, Aadhar, and MNREGA.

Despite the threat to his government, he firmly stood his ground over the nuclear deal with the US and ably steered the country’s economy through the global financial crisis of 2008. We will miss a PM and a gentleman. History would be kind and generous to him. May his soul rest in peace. Om Shanti.

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