A lookback at former PM Manmohan Singh's 5-decade career in public service

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, died here on Thursday night. He was 92.

 

Singh's death was announced by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, where he was admitted in the Emergency ward around 8.30 PM in a critical condition. 

 

An AIIMS bulletin said "he was treated for age related medical conditions and had sudden loss of consciousness at home" on December 26. 

Singh, who was prime minister for two terms in the Congress-led UPA government from 2004 to 2014, had been in poor health for the last few months.

 

He is survived by wife Gurcharan Singh and three daughters. 

Here is the timeline of his five-decade old career in bureaucracy and politics. 

1954: Completed Master's in Economics from Panjab University  1957: Economic Tripos (3-year degree prog) from Cambridge University  1962: D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University  1971: Joins Government of India as Economic Advisor in Commerce Ministry  1972: Appointed Chief Economic Advisor in Finance Ministry  1980-82: Member, Planning Commission 

1982-1985: Governor of the Reserve Bank of India  1985-87: Served as Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission  1987-90: Secretary General of South Commission in Geneva  1990: Appointed Advisor to Prime Minister on Economic Affairs March  1991: Appointed chairman of University Grants Commission  1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam, and re-elected in 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2013  1991-96: Finance Minister under P V Narasimha Rao government  1998-2004: Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha  2004-2014: Prime Minister of India 

Singh, who was finance minister under the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, was the architect and the brainchild of economic reforms in 1991 that pulled India from the brink of bankruptcy and ushered in an era of economic liberalisation that is widely believed to have changed the course of India's economic trajectory.

 

Singh died as the Congress party concluded its Congress Working Committee meeting at Belagavi in Karnataka, where all top party leaders were present.