Primeminister of India

7/28/2019 Primeminister of India

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/primeminister-of-india 1/103

PRIME MINISTERS OF INDIA



PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA INDIA follows a parliamentary system of government.In parliamentary systems fashioned after theWestminster system, the prime minister is thepresiding and actual head of the government and head

of the executive branch.The Prime Minister of India is the most powerfulperson, chief of Government, head of Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in the

parliament.The Prime Minister is the chairman of the cabinet andselects and can dismiss the member of the cabinet;allocates the posts to members within the Government

and responsible to bring proposal of legislation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IndianStub.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:National_Emblem_of_India.svg



PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

The Prime Minister is appointed by the President toassist the administration of the affairs of executive.

The Prime Minister is generally the leader of

party(or coalition of parties) that has majority inLok Sabha, the lower house in parliament of India.

The Prime Minister has to be a current member of one of the houses of parliament or be elected

within six months of being appointed.The Prime Minister is responsible for aiding and

advising the president in distribution of work of the Government to various ministries and offices

and in terms of the Government f India.





PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA The Prime Minister is the ex officio chairmanof Planning Commission of India.

The Prime Minister represents the country in

various delegation, high level meetings andinternational organizations that require theattendance of highest Government office.

The Prime Minister has exclusive jurisdictionover disposal of two national funds, (i) thePM’s National Relief Fund and (ii) the PM’s

National Defence Fund.






PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA

Prime Minister of India must be• A citizen of India

• Should be the member of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha

• Of 25 years age (in the case of a seat in the House of

People) or above 30 years of age (in the case of a seat in theCouncil of States)

• Should not hold any office of profit under the Government of India or the Government of any state or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the saidGovernments.

• COMPENSATION

• Salary : INR 100,000

• Residence : The Panchavati

• Aircraft: Air India One





First Prime Minister of India

Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru(Nov. 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964)

Born in Alhabad , son of Motilal Nehru and Swaroop Rani. Hedid his schooling from Harrow and completed his Law degreefrom Trinity College, Cambridge. On 8 February, 1916, Nehrumarried seventeen year old Kamala Kaul.

He took active part in the Non- Cooperation Movement (1920-1922). From 1926 to 1928, he served as the General Secretaryof the All India Congress Committee. He was elected to theCongress presidency in 1936, 1937, and 1946.

He took a leading part in the negotiations that culminated in theemergence of the dominions of India and Pakistan in August1947.

On 15th August,1947, he became the first Prime Minister of

independent India.



1st Prime Minister of India

Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru

He effectively coped with the formidablechallenges of those times: the disorders andmass exodus of minorities across the new border with Pakistan, the integration of 500-odd princely

states into the Indian Union, the framing of a newconstitution, and the establishment of thepolitical and administrative infrastructure for aparliamentary democracy.

He set up a Planning Commission in 1951,encouraged development of science andtechnology, and launched three successive five-year plans. His policies led to a sizable growth in

agricultural and industrial production.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nehru1920.jpg




Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru Nehru pursued land redistribution and launched

programmes to build irrigation canals, dams andspread the use of fertilizers to increase agriculturalproduction.

While encouraging the construction of large dams(which Nehru called the ―New Temples of India"),irrigation works and the generation of hydroelectricity, Nehru also launched India's

programme to harness nuclear energy.His government oversaw the establishment of many

institutions of higher learning, including the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of

Technology and the Indian Institutes of Mana ement.

http://www.whereincity.com/india/great-indians/prime-ministers/jawaharlal-nehru.php

http://www.whereincity.com/india/great-indians/prime-ministers/jawaharlal-nehru.php





Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enactedmany changes to Hindu law to criminalize castediscrimination and increase the legal rights andsocial freedoms of women.

Nehru also launched initiatives such as theprovision of free milk and meals to children inorder to fight malnutrition. Adult educationcenters, vocational and technical schools were

also organized for adults, especially in the ruralareas.

Nehru also championed secularism and religiousharmony, increasing the representation of

minorities in government.



Nehru was a champion of pacifism and astrong supporter of the United Nations.

He pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement of nations

professing neutrality between the rival blocs of nations led by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

Accepting the arbitration of the UK and World Bank,Nehru signed the Indus Water Treaty in 1960 with

Pakistani ruler Ayub Khan to resolve long-standingdisputes about sharing the resources of the major rivers of the Punjab region.

Nehru authorized the Indian Army to invade Goa in

1961, and then he annexed it to India.





The Sino-Indian War

In 1954, China and India negotiated the Five Principles of PeacefulCoexistence, by which the two nations agreed to abide in settlingtheir disputes. India presented a frontier map which was acceptedby China, and the Indian government under Prime Minister Nehrupromoted the slogan Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai (Indians and Chinese

are brothers).This apparent progress in relations suffered a major setback when,

in 1959, Nehru accommodated the Tibetan religious leader at thetime, the 14th Dalai Lama, who fled Lhasa after a failed Tibetanuprising against Chinese rule.

In August 1959, the People's Liberation Army took an Indian prisoner at Longju, which had an ambiguous position in the McMahonLine, and two months later in Aksai Chin, a clash led to the deathof nine Indian frontier policemen. China's maps showed both theNorth East Frontier Area (NEFA) and Aksai Chin to be Chineseterritory.





Nehru believed that China did not have a legitimate claim over

either of these territories, and thus was not ready to concedethem. Nehru declined to conduct any negotiations on theboundary until Chinese troops withdrew from Aksai Chin, aposition supported by the international community.

The Chinese launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh andacross the McMahon Line on 20 October 1962. Chinesetroops advanced over Indian forces in both theatres,capturing Rezang la in Chushul in the western theatre, aswell as Tawang in the eastern theatre. The war ended when

the Chinese declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, andsimultaneously announced its withdrawal from the disputedarea.

After the war, India abandoned the Forward Policy, and the defacto borders stabilized along the Line of Actual Control.





In the 1962 elections, Nehru led the Congress to

victory yet with a diminished majority. Oppositionparties ranging from the right-wing Bharatiya JanaSangh and Swatantra Party, socialists and theCommunist Party of India performed well.

Nehru's health began declining steadily, and he spentmonths recuperating in Kashmir through 1963. Uponhis return from Kashmir in May 1964, Nehru suffered astroke and later a heart attack. He died in the early

hours of 27 May 1964.He Conferred Bharat Ratna (1955).

He holds the record for continuously being in the officefor the longest period (Aug. 15, 1947 to May 27, 1964)

about 17 years, or 6,131 days.



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/archive/4/46/20090624001931!Jawharlal_Nehru_Signature.svg



Born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan). He received hiseducation in Lahore, Amritsar, Agra, and Allahabad.

In 1922, he became secretary of the Ahmedabad TextileLabour Association where he worked until 1946. He wasimprisoned for Satyagraha in 1932, and again from 1942to 1944.

He was the interim Prime Minister of India twice for thirteendays each: the first time after the death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, and the second time after the

death of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966.(Both his terms ended after the ruling INC partyprocedurally elected a new prime minister.)

The Government of India honored Nanda with the Bharat

Ratna award in 1997.

Second Prime Minister of India

Gulzari Lal Nanda(July 4, 1898 - January 15, 1998)



Born in Mughalsarai,(UP), son of SharadaSrivastava Prasad, and Ramdulari Devi. He lost hisfather when he was only one. Her mother raised LalBahadur and her two daughters at her father's house.He went to Varanasi for higher education at the age of Ten . He joined Non co-operation Movement in 1921and was arrested at the age of 17.

He actively participated in Quit India Movement in 1942and arrested and was released in 1945.

When Govind Vallabh Pant became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, he appointed Lal Bahadur Shastri as hisParliamentary Secretary. In 1947, Lal Bahadur Shastribecame the Minister of Police and Transport in Pant'sCabinet.

Third Prime Minister of India

Lal Bahadur Shastri(2 October 1904 - 11 January 1966)



In 1952, Jawahar Lal Nehru appointed Lal Bahadur

Shastri as the Railways and Transport Minister in theCentral Cabinet. He resigned from Railways in 1956,owning moral responsibility for a railway accident.

He became the Home Minister in 1961, after the death of

Govind Vallabh Pant.In the 1962 India-China war Shastriji played a key role in

maintaining internal security of the country.

After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, Shastri was

unanimously elected as the Prime Minister of India.In 1965, Pakistan tried to take advantage of India's

vulnerability and attacked India.

To enthuse soldiers and farmers he coined the slogan of

"Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan".

3rd Prime Minister of India

Lal Bahadur Shastri



Indo-Pak War of 1965

Pakistan-trained infiltrators supported by its regular army soldiers were pushed into Indian territory withthe purpose of sabotage, disruption and distributionof arms among the locals to start a guerrilla uprising.

The death in May 1964 of Pundit Nehru and the comingto power of the late Shastri as Nehru's successor were treated by Pakistan as an encouragement to

complete its unfinished war of 1947.The war began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar,

which was designed to infiltrate forces into Jammuand Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against rule

by India.


Lal Bahadur Shastri

3 d P i Mi i f I di




On March 20, 1965, and later in April 1965, fighting brokeout between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch. InJune 1965, British Prime Minister Harold Wilsonsuccessfully persuaded both countries to end hostilities

and set up a tribunal to resolve the dispute. Pakistanawarded 350 square miles (900 km²) of the Rann of Kutch, as against its original claim of 3,500 square miles(9,100 km2).

After its success in the Rann of Kutch, Pakistan, under theleadership of General Ayub Khan, believed the IndianArmy would be unable to defend itself against a quickmilitary campaign in the disputed territory of Kashmir as

the Indian military had suffered a loss to China in 1962.


Lal Bahadur Shastri




On August 5, 1965 between 26,000 and 33,000 Pakistanisoldiers crossed the Line of Control dressed asKashmiri locals headed for various areas withinKashmir. Indian forces, tipped off by the local populace,

crossed the cease fire line on August 15.On September 1, 1965, Pakistan launched a counterattack,

called Operation Grand Slam, with the objective tocapture the vital town of Akhnoor in Jammu. India

crossed the International Border on the Western fronton September 6, marking an official beginning of thewar. The war was heading for a stalemate, with bothnations holding territory of the other. The war lasted for five weeks. Indian army suffered 3,000 battlefielddeaths, while Pakistan suffered 3,800.


Lal Bahadur Shastri



The United States and the Soviet Union used

significant diplomatic tools to prevent any further escalation in the conflict between the two South Asian nations.The Soviet Union, led by Premier Alexei Kosygin, hostedceasefire negotiations January 10, 1966 in Tashkent (now inUzbekistan), where Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastriand Pakistani President Ayub Khan signed the TashkentAgreement, agreeing to withdraw to pre-August lines.

Lal Bahadur Shastri died of heart attack on the same night after the declaration of the ceasefire.

He held office for 582 days, from June 9, 1964 to January 11, 1966.Conferred Bharat Ratna (posthumous, 1966).

The then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj was instrumental inmaking Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister after the sudden

demise of Shastri.


Lal Bahadur Shastri

F th P i Mi i t f I di



Born in Allahabad and the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru.

She was the Prime Minister of the India for three consecutiveterms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 untilher assassination in 1984, a total of fifteen years.

She is India's only female prime minister to date. She is theworld's all-time longest serving female Prime Minister.

In 1934 –35, after finishing school, Indira joined Shantiniketan,aschool set up by Rabindranath Tagore, who gave her thename Priyadarshini (priya=pleasing, darshini=to look at).

Subsequently, she went to England and studied at the Universityof Oxford.

During this time, she met Feroze Gandhi, whom she knew fromAllahabad, and who was studying at the London School of

Economics. She married him in 1942.

Fourth Prime Minister of India

Indira Gandhi(Nov. 19, 1917,—Oct. 31, 1984)

4th P i Mi i t f I di



Returning to India in 1941, she became involved

in the Indian Independence movement. In the1950s, she served her father unofficially as a personalassistant during his tenure as the first Prime Minister of India.

After her father's death in 1964 she was appointed as amember of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) andbecame a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet asMinister of Information and Broadcasting.

The Syndicate selected her as prime minister whenShastri died in 1966. The Congress was split in twofactions, the socialists led by Gandhi, and theconservatives led by Morarji Desai. Rammanohar

Lohia.

4th Prime Minister of India

Indira Gandhi




Congress' internal crisis stared at its face in the results of

the 1967 elections. For the first time, it lost nearly 60seats in the Lower House, managing to win 283 seats.

In order to keep dissident voices at bay, she appointedMorarji Desai, who had opposed her candidature as PM

after Nehru's death, as Deputy Prime Minister of Indiaand Finance Minister of India.

In 1969 after many disagreements with Desai, the IndianNational Congress split. She ruled with support from

Socialist and Communist Parties for the next two years.In July 1969 she nationalized banks.

Not wanting to head a minority government any longer,she called for a mid-term election to the Lok Sabha a

full one year ahead of schedule.


Indira Gandhi


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Indira2.jpg



Indira Gandhi steered the Congress to a landslide

victory in 1971. Campaigning on the slogan of ―GaribiHatao" (eliminate poverty), she returned in Parliamentwith 352 seats.

Indira Gandhi took bold decisions during the India-

Pakistan war in 1971 that resulted in the liberation of Bangladesh. India's victory in December 1971 washailed by all Indians as it came in the face of diplomatic opposition from both China and the United

States. There was hardly any international supportfrom almost every other nation except the erstwhileSoviet Union and the Eastern Bloc countries.

India was victorious in the 1971 war, and Bangladesh

was born.


Indira Gandhi


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Indira2.jpg



Indo-Pak War 1971

In 1970 Pakistani election, in which the East Pakistani AwamiLeague won 167 of 169 seats in East Pakistan and secured asimple majority in the 313-seat lower house of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament of Pakistan).

Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman presented theSix Points to the President of Pakistan and claimed the rightto form the government. After the leader of the PakistanPeoples Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, refused to yield thepremiership of Pakistan to Mujibur, President Yahya Khan

called the military, dominated by West Pakistanis, tosuppress dissent.

After several days of strikes and non-cooperation movements,the Pakistani military cracked down on Dhaka on the nightof 25 March 1971. The Awami League was banished andMujib was arrested on the night of 25 –26 March 1971.

4 Prime Minister of India

Indira Gandhi




Indo-Pak War 1971The Pakistan army conducted a widespread genocide

against the Bengali population of East Pakistan, aimed inparticular at the minority Hindu population, leading toapproximately 10 million people fleeing East Pakistan andtaking refuge in the neighboring Indian states.

The national Indian government repeatedly appealed to theinternational community, but failing to elicit any response,

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 27 March 1971 expressedfull support of her government for the independencestruggle of the people of East Pakistan.

On 23 November, Yahya Khan declared a state of emergencyin all of Pakistan and told his people to prepare for war.On the evening of 3 December, at about 5:40 p.m.,thePakistani Air Force (PAF) launched a pre-emptive strike on

eleven airfields in north-western India

4 Prime Minister of India

Indira Gandhi




Indo-Pak War 1971

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi held that the air strikes were adeclaration of war against India and the Indian Air Forceresponded with initial air strikes that very night.

The war ended in just 13 days and it is considered one of theshortest wars in history.

The war effectively came to an end after the Eastern Commandof the Pakistani Armed Forces signed the Instrument of Surrender, the first and perhaps the only public surrender todate, on December 16, 1971 following which East Pakistan

seceded as the independent state of Bangladesh.India took approximately 90,000 prisoners of war, including

Pakistani soldiers and their East Pakistani civiliansupporters. They were released by India only after thenegotiation and signing of the Simla Agreement on July 2,1972.


Indira Gandhi




A national nuclear program was started by

Gandhi in 1967, in response to the nuclear threatfrom the People's Republic of China and to establishIndia's stability and security interests asindependent from those of the nuclear superpowers.

In 1974, India successfully conducted anunderground nuclear test, unofficially code namedas "Smiling Buddha", near the desert village of Pokhran in Rajasthan. Describing the test as for

peaceful purposes, India became the world's thenyoungest nuclear power.

Due to her antipathy for Nixon, relations with theUnited States grew distant, while relations with the

Soviet Union grew closer.


Indira Gandhi




On 12 June 1975 the High Court of Allahabad declared

Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha void ongrounds of electoral malpractice. In an electionpetition filed by Raj Narain (who later on defeated her in 1977 parliamentary election from Rae Bareily), he

had alleged several major as well as minor instancesof using government resources for campaigning. Thecourt thus ordered her to be removed from her seatin Parliament and banned from running in elections

for six years.But Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced

plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. The primeminister retained the support of her party, which

issued a statement backing her.


Indira Gandhi




Gandhi moved to restore order by ordering the arrest of most of the opposition participating in the unrest. Her Cabinet and government then recommended thatPresident Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a state of emergency, because of the disorder and lawlessness

following the Allahabad High Court decision.Accordingly, Ahmed declared a State of Emergencycaused by internal disorder, based on the provisionsof Article 352 of the Constitution, on 26 June 1975.

Within a few months, President's Rule was imposed onthe two opposition party ruled states of Gujarat andTamil Nadu thereby bringing the entire country under direct Central rule or by governments led by the ruling

Congress party.


Indira Gandhi




Indira Gandhi used the emergency provisions

to grant herself extraordinary powers.It is alleged that she further moved President Ahmed to

issue ordinances that did not need to be debated in theParliament, allowing her to rule by decree.

Simultaneously, Gandhi's government undertook acampaign to stamp out dissent including the arrest anddetention of thousands of political activists.

Sanjay Gandhi was instrumental in initiating the clearing

of slums around Delhi's Jama Masjid under thesupervision of Jag Mohan, later Lt. Governor of Delhi, allegedly left thousands of people homeless andhundreds killed and the family planning program whichforcibly imposed vasectomy on thousands of fathersand was often poorly administered.


Indira Gandhi




After extending the state of emergency twice, in 1977

Indira Gandhi called for elections, to give theelectorate a chance to vindicate her rule. Gandhi, onJanuary 23, called fresh elections for March andreleased all political prisoners.

Four Opposition parties, the Organisation Congress,the Jan Sangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal and theSocialist Party, decided to fight the elections as asingle party, called the Janata Party.

The Congress lost the elections for the first time inindependent India and Janata Party leader MorarjiDesai, who had been released from prison twomonths before the elections, won 298 seats. Desai

became India's first non-Congress Prime Minister onMarch 24.


Indira Gandhi

Fifth Prime Minister of India



Born into an in Bhadeli, Valsad in BombayPresidency (Gujarat).

After graduating from Wilson College, Mumbai, he joinedthe civil service in Gujarat. Later, he left the service of theBritish in 1924 and joined the civil disobedience

movement against British rule in India in 1930.

He spent many years in jail during the freedom struggle andowing to his sharp leadership skills and tough spirit, hebecame a favourite amongst freedom-fighters and an

important leader of the Indian National Congress inGujarat.

Before the independence of India, he became Bombay'sHome Minister and later was elected as Chief Minister of

Bombay State in 1952.

Fifth Prime Minister of India

Morarji Ranchhodji Desai(29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995)




Denied the prime ministership in 1964 and

1966, Desai challenged Mrs. Gandhi for theleadership in 1967 and lost. He became DeputyPrime Minister and Minister of Finance but neither was comfortable with each other. In 1969 followingthe split in Congress he left the government.

Desai joined with the opposition in the campaignagainst Mrs. Gandhi in 1975. During the State of

Emergency, he spent eighteen months in jail, muchof it in solitary confinement. He was released inJanuary 1977 and became the world's oldest PrimeMinister at the age of 81 when the Janata Dal came

to power.


Morarji Desai




Morarji Desai led a fractious coalition government, and thusfailed to achieve much owing to continuous in-wranglingand much controversy. Controversial trials of prominentCongress leaders, including Indira Gandhi over Emergency-era abuses worsened the fortunes of his

administration.His government undid many amendments made to the

constitution during emergency and made it difficult for anyfuture government to impose national emergency.

Desai worked to improve relations with neighbour and arch-rival Pakistan and restored normal relations with China, for the first time since the 1962 war. He communicated withZia-ul-Haq and established friendly relations anddiplomatic relations were also re-established with China.


Morarji Desai




The leader of the Janata Party was Jayaprakash Narayan

who kept the party united. The other party leaders of theJanata Party were Morarji Desai , Charan Singh , RajNarain and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Janata government's Home Minister, Choudhary

Charan Singh, ordered the arrest of Indira and SanjayGandhi on several charges, none of which would be easyto prove in an Indian court.

However, this strategy backfired disastrously. Her arrest

and long-running trial, however, gained her greatsympathy from many people who had feared her as atyrant just two years earlier.

Jayaprakash Narayan died on 8 October 1979, which broke

the unity of the Janata Party and Desai took his place.


Morarji Desai




In 1979, Raj Narain and Charan Singh pulled out

of the Janata Party, forcing Desai to resignfrom office and retire from politics at the age of 83.

Charan Singh, who had retained some partners of theJanata alliance, was sworn in as Prime Minister in

June 1979.Desai hold the Government for 857 days, from March 24,

1977 to July 28, 1979.

Desai conferred Bharat Ratna in 1991.

He is the first Indian to receive Nishan-e-Pakistan ( thehighest of civil awards and decorations given by theGovernment of Pakistan).

He lived in Bombay, and died at the age of 99.

5t Prime Minister of India

Morarji Desai

Sixth Prime Minister of India



Born in Noorpur, Meerut Dist., U. P.

He received a Masters of Arts degree in 1925 andLaw degree in 1926 from Agra University.

In February 1937 he was elected Chhaprouli (Baghpat) to theLegislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces)

at the age of 34. He was jailed by the British several timesduring independence movement.

In 1952, he became the Revenue Minister of state of Uttar Pradesh.

Charan Singh left the Congress party in 1967, and formed hisown political party.

With the help and support of Raj Narain and Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya, he became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1967,

and later in 1970.

Chaudhary Charan Singh (23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987)




In 1975, he was jailed during 'Indian Emergency (1975-1977).

The leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, a major constituent of the Janata coalition, he was disappointed in his ambitionto become Prime Minister in 1977 by JayaprakashNarayan's choice of Morarji Desai. He settled at the time

for the largely honorary post of Deputy Prime Minister of India.

However, the internal stresses of the coalition's governmentcaused him to leave the government with the former LokDal, after being promised by Mrs. Gandhi the support of

the Congress Party on the floor of the House in any effortsto form a government. He was sworn in as Prime Minister with the support of just 64 MPs.

During his term as Prime Minister the Lok Sabha never met.


Chaudhary Charan Singh




The day before the Lok Sabha was due to

meet for the first time the Indian NationalCongress withdrew their support from hisBharatiya Lok Dal Government. Choudhary CharanSingh resigned and fresh elections were held six

months later. Till that time he remained ascaretaker Prime Minister

He was in office for 171 days, from July 28, 1979 toJan. 14, 1980.

He continued to lead the Lok Dal in opposition till hisdeath in 1987. His association with the causesdear to farming communities caused his memorial

in New Delhi to be named Kisan Ghat.


Chaudhary Charan Singh

Prime Minister of India



Congress was returned to power with a landslide

majority in January, 1980 General Election. Mrs. IndiraGandhi became the Prime Minister of India again.

In the 1980s, Money meant for aid given by Mrs. Gandhiwas used by the LTTE and other Tamil militant groups

in Sri Lanka. Although Mrs. Gandhi never meant to givethe support to terrorism, she gave it to groups for aidfor Tamils but these groups went ahead and transferredthe installments to the LTTE without her knowledge.

In July 1982, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's Sikh groupoccupied the Golden Temple. In response, on 6 June1984, during one of the holiest Sikh holidays, enactingOperation Blue Star, the Indian army opened fire, killinga disputed number of Sikhs along with supporters of

Bhindranwale.

Indira Gandhi




On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards,

Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, assassinated her withtheir service weapons in the garden of the PrimeMinister's residence at 1 Safdarjung Road, New Delhias she was walking past a wicket gate guarded by

Satwant and Beant. Gandhi died on her way to thehospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,where doctors operated on her. She was cremated on 3November near Raj Ghat.

She held office from Jan. 24, 1966 to March 24, 1977 andagain from Jan. 14 to Oct. 31,1984, for a total of 5,831days, just 300 days short of her father, Pt. Nehru.

Conferred Bharat Ratna in 1971.

After Indira Gandhi's death, Rajiv became Prime Minister.


Indira Gandhi

Seventh Prime Minister of India



Born in Mumbai, the elder son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi.

Educated initially at the Welham Boys' School and later TheDoon School, both located at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Hewas sent to London in 1961 to study his A-levels. In 1962,he was offered a place at Trinity College, Cambridge to

study engineering.

Rajiv stayed at Cambridge until 1965 and left the universitywithout a degree mainly because he did not appear in thefinal Tripos examinations. In 1966, he was offered a place

at the Imperial College London. He again left ImperialCollege after a year without a degree.

In the January of 1965, he met Italian Antonia (Sonia) Mainoin Varsity restaurant in Cambridge. Maino came to India

with Rajiv and they were married in 1968.

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi(20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991)




He began working for Indian Airlines as a professionalpilot while his mother became Prime Minister in 1966.

He exhibited no interest in politics and did not live regularlywith his mother in Delhi at the Prime Minister's residence.In 1970, his wife gave birth to their first child RahulGandhi, and in 1972, to Priyanka Gandhi, their second.

Following his younger brother's death in 1980, Gandhi waspressured by Indian National Congress party politiciansand his mother to enter politics.

Elected to Sanjay's Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencyof Amethi in Uttar Pradesh state in February 1981.

He soon became the president of the Youth Congress - theCongress party's youth wing.

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi




Top Congress leaders, as well as PresidentZail Singh pressed Rajiv to become India's PrimeMinister, within hours of his mother's assassination on31 October 1984.

He became the youngest Prime Minister so far at the ageof 41.

Soon after assuming office, Rajiv asked President ZailSingh to dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections,as the Lok Sabha completed its five year term. RajivGandhi also officially became the President of the

Congress party.The Congress party won a landslide victory — with the

largest majority (404 Lok Sabha seats) in history of Indian Parliament— giving Gandhi absolute control of

government.

Rajiv Gandhi




He increased government support for science andtechnology and associated industries, and reduced

import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-basedindustries, especially computers, airlines, defence andtelecommunications.

He introduced measures significantly reducing the License

Raj, allowing businesses and individuals to purchasecapital, consumer goods and import without bureaucraticrestrictions.

In 1986, he announced a National Policy on Education to

modernize and expand higher education programs acrossIndia. He founded the Jawahar Navodaya VidyalayaSystem in 1986, which is a Central government basedinstitution that concentrates on the upliftment of the ruralsection of the society providing them free residentialeducation from 6th till 12 rade.

Rajiv Gandhi




His efforts created MTNL in 1986, and his public

call offices, better known as PCOs, helpedspread telephones in rural areas.

He improved bilateral relations with the United States — longstrained owing to Indira's socialism and close friendshipwith the USSR — and expanded economic and scientific

cooperation.

In 1988, Rajiv reversed the coup in Maldives antagonising themilitant Tamil outfits such as PLOTE.

The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed by Rajiv

Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President J.R.Jayewardene, inColombo on 29 July 1987. The very next day, on 30 July1987, Rajiv Gandhi was assaulted on the head with a riflebutt by a young Sinhalese naval cadet. The intendedassault on the back of Rajiv Gandhi's head however glanced off his shoulder.

Rajiv Gandhi




The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord also underlined the

commitment of Indian military assistance onwhich the Indian Peace Keeping Force cameto be inducted into Sri Lanka. The main task of theIPKF was to disarm the different militant groups, not

just the LTTE.The IPKF operation killed over 1100 Indian soldiers,25000 Tamils and cost over 10000 crores Rupees.

The IPKF began withdrawing from Sri Lanka in 1989,

following the election of the Vishwanath PratapSingh government in India and on the request of thenewly-elected Sri Lankan President RanasinghePremadasa.The last IPKF contingents left Sri Lanka

in March 1990.

Rajiv Gandhi




Gandhi moved swiftly to deal with the Sikh agitation. In1985 the Rajiv-Longowal Accord was signed whichgranted the Sikhs most of their demands. Thisagreement was also accompanied by accords inAssam and Mizoram.

By early 1986 Rajiv had effected a U-turn in domesticpolicy. Many of the provisions of the Rajiv-LongowalAccord remained unimplemented and thereafter heresorted to using the policy of force. In 1987 Punjabwas placed under President's Rule. This reversal was

followed by a dispute with President Zail Singh andthe constant shuffling of ministers.

Gandhi's finance minister, V. P. Singh, uncoveredcompromising details about government and political

corruption, to the consternation of Congress leaders.

Rajiv Gandhi




Transferred to the Defence ministry, Singh uncovered what

became known as the Bofors scandal, involving tens of millions of dollars - concerned alleged payoffs by theSwedish Bofors arms company through Italianbusinessman and Gandhi family associate OttavioQuattrocchi, in return for Indian contracts.

Upon the uncovering of the scandal, Singh was dismissedfrom office, and later from Congress membership. RajivGandhi himself was later personally implicated in thescandal. This shattered his image as an honest politician;

he was posthumously cleared over this allegation in 2004,however.

In the 1989 elections, the Congress suffered a major setback.

Gandhi became the Leader of the Opposition, while remaining

Congress president.

Rajiv Gandhi




With the support of Indian communists and the Bharatiya

Janata Party, V.P.Singh and his Janata Dal formed agovernment on October 11, 1988. However, the Congresswas still the single largest party in the Lok Sabha.

BJP leader L K Advani started the Rath Yatra on the RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue and was arrested inBihar by state chief minister Lalu Yadav, the partywithdrew support to the VP Singh government. Singhresigned after losing the trust vote.

Chandra Shekhar broke away from the Janata Dal with 64

MPs and formed the Samajwadi Janata Party. He gotoutside support from the Congress and became the 11thPrime Minister of India. He finally resigned on March 6,1991, after the Congress alleged that the government was

spying on Rajiv Gandhi.

Rajiv Gandhi




The 10th Lok Sabha Elections were amid-term one as the previous Lok Sabha had beendissolved just 16 months after government formation.

Rajiv Gandhi's last public meeting was at

Sriperumbudur on 21 May 1991, in a villageapproximately 30 miles from Chennai, Tamil Nadu,where he was assassinated while campaigning for theSriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate. Theassassination was carried out by the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber Thenmozhi Rajaratnam also known as Gayatri andDhanu.

Conferred Bharat Ratna (posthumous, 1991).

Rajiv Gandhi




Born in the Rajput Gaharwal (Rathore) Royal Familyof Manda to Raja Bhagwati Prasad Singh of Daiya andwas later adopted by Raja Bahadur Ram Gopal Singh of Mana in 1936, whom he succeeded in 1941.

Studied at Colonel Brown Cambridge School, Dehradunfor five years, and entered local politics in Allahabadduring the Nehru era.

Married Rani Sita Kumari, daughter of Rawat SangramSingh II of Deogarh on 25 June 1955.

He was appointed by Indira Gandhi as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1980.

He was appointed by Rajiv Gandhi as the Finance Minister in Central Government in 1984 and oversaw the gradual

relaxation of the license Raj as Rajiv had in mind.

Vishwanath Pratap Singh(25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008)




During his term as Finance Minister, he oversaw

the reduction of gold smuggling by reducing gold taxesand the excellent tactic of giving the police a portion of the smuggled gold that they found. He also gaveextraordinary powers to the Enforcement Directorate of

the Finance Ministry, the wing of the ministry chargedwith tracking down tax evaders, then headed by BhureLal.

Following a number of high-profile raids on suspectedevaders - including Dhirubhai Ambani and AmitabhBachchan - Rajiv was forced to sack him as FinanceMinister.

However, Singh's popularity was at such a pitch that only asideways move seemed to have been possible, to the

Defence Ministry.

V. P. Singh




Word began to spread that Singh possessed

information about the Bofors defence dealthat could damage the Prime Minister's reputation.Before he could act on it, he was dismissed from theCabinet and, in response, resigned his memberships in

the Congress Party and the Lok SabhaTogether with associates Arun Nehru and Arif

Mohammad Khan, Singh floated an opposition partynamed the Jan Morcha.

On 11 October 1988, the Janata Dal was formed bymerger of Jan Morcha, Janata Party, Lok Dal andCongress (S), in order to bring together all the centristparties opposed to the Rajiv Gandhi government, and

V. P. Singh was elected the President of the Janata Dal.

V. P. Singh




A federation of the Janata Dal with various regional

parties including the DMK, TDP, and AGP, came intobeing, called the National Front (India), with V. P.Singh as convener and N. T. Rama Rao as President.

The National Front fought the elections in 1989 after

coming to an electoral understanding with the right-wing BJP and the Communist Left Front that servedto unify the anti-Congress vote.

The National Front, with its allies, earned a simple

majority in the Lok Sabha and decided to form agovernment. The Communists and the BJP declinedto serve in the government, preferring to support itfrom outside.

Singh hold office on 2 December 1989.

V. P. Singh


V P Si h



He faced his first crisis, when terrorists kidnappedthe daughter of his Home Minister, Mufti MohammadSayeed and his government agreed to the demand for releasing militants in exchange.

Singh also withdrew the IPKF from Sri Lanka andthwarted the efforts of Pakistan under Benazir Bhuttoto start a border war.

He decided to implement the recommendations of theMandal Commission which suggested that a fixedquota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged so-called(Generally abbreviated OBCs, these were Hindu castes,and certain non-Hindu caste-like communities, which,though not untouchable, had been socially and

educationally backward).

V. P. Singh




This decision led to widespread protests among the

non-OBC youth in urban areas in North India.BJP party president, Lal Krishna Advani, toured the northern

states on a rath - a bus converted to look like a mythicalchariot - with the intention of drumming up support for theRam Janmabhoomi agitation. Before he could complete the

tour by reaching the disputed site in Ayodhya, he wasarrested on Singh's orders on the charges of disturbing thepeace and fomenting communal tension.

This led to the BJP's suspension of support to the National

Front government. He lost the majority in parliament Nov.10, 1990. He hold the office for 344 days.

V. P. Singh died after a long struggle with multiple myeloma(bone marrow cancer) and renal failure at Apollo Hospital in

Delhi on 27 November 2008.

V. P. Singh


Ch d Sh kh Si h



Born in Ibrahimpatti - Ballia (UP).

Did his Master of Arts (MA) at Allahabad University.

He joined Congress in 1964. From 1962 to 1967, Shekhar belonged to the Rajya Sabha. He entered the Lok Sabha in1977. He vehemently criticized Indira Gandhi for her

activities and was arrested during the emergency and sentto prison.

After the emergency, he became the President of Janata Party.

He had a nationwide padayatra in 1984. He was called a

"Young Turk".In 1988, his party merged with other parties and formed the

government under the leadership of V.P. Singh.

His relationship with the coalition deteriorated and he formed

another party, Janata Dal socialist faction.

Chandra Shekhar Singh(1 July 1927 - 8 July 2007)


Ch d Sh kh Si h



He replaced V.P. Singh as the Prime Minister of India

in November 1990 with the support of Congress (I)headed by Rajiv Gandhi.

The relationship crumbled quickly, as the Congress partyaccused him of spying on Rajiv Gandhi, their leader at thattime. The Congress Party then boycotted Parliament and

as Shekhar's faction only had about 60 MPs, he resignedin a nationally televised address on 6 March 1991.

He continued in office until June 21, 1991 till the nationalelections could be held. He was the office for 224 days.

He was honored with the inaugural OutstandingParliamentarian Award in 1995.

Shekhar suffered from multiple myeloma, a form of cancer of the plasma cell. He died at the age of 80 in New Delhi on 8

July 2007.

Chandra Shekhar Singh




Born at Laknepally village in Warangal District to aNiyogi on the border of Andhra Pradesh andMaharashtra Brahmin family and son of P. Ranga Rao andRukminiamma.

Studied Bachelor's in arts college, Subedari in Warangal, and

later on went to Fergusson College at Nagpur, where hecompleted a Master's degree in law.

In addition to eight Indian languages, he spoke English,French, Arabic, Spanish, German, Greek, Latin and Persian.

He was an active freedom fighter during the IndianIndependence movement and after independence as amember of the Indian National Congress.

He served brief stints in the Andhra Pradesh cabinet (1962 –1971) and as Chief minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh1971 –1973 .

Pamulaparti Venkata "Narasimha Rao"(28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004)




Rao stayed on the side of then Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi during the Indian National Congresssplit in 1969 and remained loyal to her during theEmergency period (1975 –77).

He rose to national prominence in 1972, most

significantly Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs(1980 –1984), in the cabinets of both Indira Gandhiand Rajiv Gandhi.

Rao very nearly retired from politics in 1991. It was

the assassination of the Congress President RajivGandhi that made him make a comeback.

As the Congress had won the largest number of seatsin the 1991 elections, he got the opportunity to

head the minority government as Prime Minister.

P. V. Narasimha Rao




He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi

family to serve as Prime Minister for fivecontinuous years, the first to hail from South Indiaand also the first from the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Since Rao had not contested the general elections, he

then participated in a by-election to join theparliament. He won from Nandyal with a victorymargin of a record 500,000 votes and his win wasrecorded in the Guinness Book Of World Records.

His cabinet included Sharad Pawar, himself a strongcontender for the Prime Minister's post, as defenceminister. He also broke convention by appointing anon-political economist and future prime minister,

Manmohan Singh as his finance minister.

P. V. Narasimha Rao




Rao's major achievement is generally considered to be the

liberalization of the Indian economy. The reforms wereadopted to avert impending international default in 1991.

The reforms progressed furthest in the areas of opening upto foreign investment, reforming capital markets,

deregulating domestic business, and reforming the traderegime. Rao's government's goals were reducing thefiscal deficit, Privatization of the public sector, andincreasing investment in infrastructure.

Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreigndirect investment were introduced to open India to foreigntrade while stabilizing external loans.

Manmohan Singh, an acclaimed economist, played a centralrole in implementing these reforms.

P. V. Narasimha Rao




The impact of the reforms was of total foreign

investment (including foreign direct investment,portfolio investment, and investment raised oninternational capital markets) in India grew from aminuscule US $132 million in 1991-92 to $5.3 billion

in 1995-96.

Rao began industrial policy reforms with themanufacturing sector. He slashed industriallicensing, leaving only 18 industries subject tolicensing. Industrial regulation was rationalized.

India's economy grew by an average of 6.3% between1991-2000, a growth rate that continues with apredicted rate of 6.7% for 2005

P. V. Narasimha Rao




Rao energized the national nuclear security and ballistic missiles

program, which ultimately resulted in the 1998 Pokhrannuclear tests.

He increased military spending, and set the Indian Army oncourse to fight the emerging threat of terrorism andinsurgencies, as well as Pakistan and China's nuclear

potentials.It was during his term that terrorism in the Indian state of Punjab

was finally defeated.

The Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir faced increased

terrorist activity during Rao's tenure. Pakistan was directlycharged with sheltering, arming and supplying infiltrators.Rao's government introduced the Terrorist and DisruptiveActivities (Prevention) Act (TADA), India's first anti-terrorismlegislation, and sent the Indian Army into full swing to

eliminate the infiltrators.

P. V. Narasimha Rao


P V N i h R



Narasimha Rao was the only Indian prime minister to haveinitiated a pragmatic foreign policy by balancing relationsbetween Islamic world and the Israel. He placed India'sinterests above narrow communal sentiments.

Rao also made diplomatic overtures to Western Europe, theUnited States, and China.

He decided in 1992 to bring into the open India's relationswith Israel and permitted Israel to open an embassy inNew Delhi.

Rao launched the Look East foreign policy, which brought

India closer to ASEAN.

He decided to maintain a distance from the Dalai Lama inorder to avoid aggravating Beijing's suspicions andconcerns, and made successful overtures to Tehran.

P. V. Narasimha Rao


P V N i h R



The long-agitated VHP activists and nationalists attacked

the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya on 6 December, 1992.The site is the birthplace of Lord Sri Rama, on whichIndia's first Mughal invader and emperor destroyed anexisting Hindu temple in the early 16th century. This

triggered one of the worst Hindu-Muslim riots in thecountry since its independence.

In July 1993, Rao's government was facing a no-confidence motion, because the opposition felt that it

did not have sufficient numbers to prove a majority. Itwas alleged that Rao, through a representative, offeredmillions of rupees to members of the Jharkhand MuktiMorcha (JMM), and possibly a breakaway faction of theJanata Dal, to vote for him during the confidencemotion.

P. V. Narasimha Rao


P V Narasimha Rao

http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/1992

http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/1992



Shailendra Mahato, one of those members who

had accepted the bribe, turned approver. In 1996,after Rao's term in office had expired,investigations began in earnest in the case.

In May 1995, senior leaders Arjun Singh and Narayan

Dutt Tiwari quit the Congress and formed their ownparty. The Harshad Mehta scandal, the Vohra reporton criminalisation of politics, the Jain hawalascandal and the 'Tandoor murder' case had

damaged the Rao government's credibility.The BJP and its allies and the United Front, a

coalition comprising the Left Front and the JanataDal, were the Congress' main rivals in elections

held in 1996.

P. V. Narasimha Rao


P V N i h R



In the 1996 general elections Rao's Congress Party

was badly defeated and he had to step down asPrime Minister. The BJP won 161 seats and theCongress 140-the halfway-mark in Parliament was 271.

The President invited BJP leader A B Vajpayee to form

the government, as he was the chief of the singlelargest party in Parliament.

Rao's later life was marked by political isolation due tohis association with corruption charges. Rao was

acquitted on all charges prior to his death. He suffereda heart attack on 9 December 2004, and was taken tothe AIIMS, where he died 14 days later at the age of 83.

He hold the office from June 21, 1991 to May 10, 1996

(1, 785 days).

P. V. Narasimha Rao


Atal Bihari Vajpayee



Born in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, to Shri KrishnaBihari Vajpayee, a school teacher and Smt. Krishna Dev.

He earned a masters degree in political science from theVictoria College (now Laxmibai College) and DAVCollege, Kanpur.

In 1942,he was arrested during the Quit India movement.

He became a close follower and aide to Shyama PrasadMukherjee, the leader of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS).

The RSS and BJS joined a wide-array of parties in 1975 atthe time of emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi andVajpayee was briefly jailed during that period.

BJS joined the Janata coalition, when Indira Gandhi calledelections in 1977.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee(December 25, 1924 )


Atal Bihari Vajpa ee



Vajpayee took office as the Minister for External

Affairs, under Prime Minister Morarji Desai in 1977.During this tenure, he also became the first person to

deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assemblyin Hindi (in 1977), the "most unforgettable" moment in hislife by his own admission.

He went on a historic visit to People's Republic of China in1979, normalizing relations with China for the first timesince the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

He also visited Pakistan and initiated normal dialogue andtrade relations that had been frozen since the 1971 Indo-Pak War and subsequent political instability in bothcountries.

Vajpayee resigned from government with Morarji Desai's

resignation as prime minister in 1979.



At l Bih i V j



Atal Bihari Vajpayee, along with many BJS and

RSS colleagues formed the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980.Vajpayee became its founding President of BJP.

BJP won only two parliamentary seats in the 1984 elections,however it established itself in the mainstream of Indian

politics. During this period Vajpayee remained center-stageas party President and Leader of the Opposition inParliament.

Political energy and expansion made BJP the single-largestpolitical party in the Lok Sabha elected in 1996.

The President invited BJP leader A B Vajpayee to form thegovernment, as he was the chief of the single largest party inParliament. Vajpayee took over as Prime Minister on May 16and tried to get support from regional parties in Parliament.He failed and resigned 13 days later.



H d h lli D dd D G d



Born on 18 May, 1933 in Haradanahalli village of

Holenarasipura taluk, Hassan District in Karnataka.Civil Engineering diploma holder, joined the Indian

National Congress Party in 1953 and remained amember till 1962.

Deve Gowda was elected as MLA from Holenarasipur constituency as an independent candidate for Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1962 for threeconsecutive terms.

He became the President of Janata Party twice at statelevel and president of the state Janata Dal in 1994.

In 1994 he assumed office as the 14th Chief Minister of

Karnataka.

Haradanahalli Dodde Deve Gowda


H D D G d



His leadership of the Third Front (a group of

regional parties and Non-Congress and Non-BJP combine)led to his Prime Minister's job, when BJP failed to provemajority in parliament.

Deve Gowda resigned as the Chief Minister of Karnataka onMay 30, 1996 to be sworn in as the 12th Prime Minister of India on 1st June, 1996.

Deve Gowda's government collapsed after less than a year,when the Congress Party withdrew its support in March1997, forcing the third change in government in less than a

year. Inder Kumar Gujral replaced Deve Gowda as theconsensus choice for Prime Minister at the head of a 16-party United Front coalition.

He was in office from June 1, 1996 to April 21, 1997 (for roughly11 months).

H. D. Deve Gowda


I d K G j l



Born 4 December 1919, in the town of Jhelum in Western

Punjab, now in Pakistan, son of Avtar Narain Gujral andPushpa Gujral. He was married to Shiela Gujral on 26 May1945. He is M.A., B.Com. Ph.D. & D.Litt. (Hons. Causa).

He actively took part in India's freedom struggle, and was

jailed in 1942 during the 'Quit India Movement'.In the tumultuous days of June 1975, he was minister of

Information and Broadcasting.

He was Ambassador of India to U.S.S.R. (Cabinet Rank) from

1976-1980.He left the Congress Party in the mid-1980s and joined theJanata Dal .

He was Member of Parliament 1964 to 1976, 1989 to 1991; re-elected to Rajya Sabha in 1992 from Bihar.

Indra Kumar Gujural


Indra Kumar Gujural



He was the Minister of External Affairs during 1989-1990.

He was leader of the House, Rajya Sabha from June 1996;Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee onCommerce & Textiles, 1993 to April 1996.

He was the Minister of External Affairs from June 1, 1996.

But when the Congress Party objected and threatened towithdraw its vote of support to the UF, the UF electedI.K. Gujral to lead the Government from April, 1997.

His tenure ended just after 10 months when the Congress

Party again decided to withdraw support to the UF. Heresigned office on Nov. 28. 1997.

The country would go to elections again in 1998. Electionswere held following the premature dissolution of the

Lok Sabha on December 4, 1997.

Indra Kumar Gujural





Post-poll alliance strategy gave the BJP-led alliance a

working majority of some 265 seats. On March 19,Vajpayee took the oath as Prime Minister for secondtime. The 12th Lok Sabha had a life-span of 413 days,the shortest to date.

In May 1998, India conducted five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, Rajasthan. Two weeks later, Pakistanresponded with its own nuclear weapon tests, making itthe newest declared nation with nuclear weapons.

In late 1998 and early 1999, Vajpayee began a push for afull-scale diplomatic peace process with Pakistan. Withthe historic inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore busservice in February 1999.

The Vajpayee led government was faced with two crises inmid-1999.



At l Bih i V j



On April 17, 1999, the AIADMK did pull the plug on

the NDA. The BJP fell short of a single vote and theVajpayee administration was reduced to a caretaker statuspending fresh elections scheduled for October.

The BJP continued to rule as an interim administration untilthe polling, the dates of which were announced on May 4,by the Election Commission.

Operation Vijay (1999), launched in June 1999, saw the Indianmilitary fighting thousands of militants and soldiers amidstheavy artillery shelling and while facing extremely cold

weather, snow and treacherous terrain at the high altitude.Over 500 Indian soldiers were killed in the three-month longKargil War, and it is estimated around 600-4000 Pakistanimilitants and soldiers died as well. India pushed back thePakistani militants and Northern Light Infantry soldiers.






The BJP-led NDA had won 303 seats in the

543 seat Lok Sabha in the aftermath of Kargil operations, thereby securing a comfortable, stable majority.

On 13 October 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee took oath asPrime Minister of India for the third time.

The coalition government that was formed lasted its fullterm of 5 years – the only non-Congress government todo so.

In December 1999, Indian Airlines flight (IC 814) en-route

Kathmandu to New Delhi was hijacked by five Pakistaniterrorists and flown to Taliban ruled Afghanistan. Thegovernment ultimately caved in and released certainKashmiri terrorists like Maulana Masood Azhar, fromprison and exchanged them for the passengers.






Vajpayee oversaw his National Highway Development Projectand Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana begin construction,in which he took a personal interest.

In March 2000 Bill Clinton, the President of the United States,paid a state visit to India. His was the first state visit to Indiaby a US President in 22 years.

Vajpayee promoted pro-business, free market reforms toreinvigorate India's economic transformation and expansionthat were started by former PM Narasimha Rao but stalledafter 1996 due to unstable governments and the 1997 Asianfinancial crisis.

The economy had shown steady growth during the BJP ruleand the disinvestment of PSUs had been on track. TheForeign Exchange Reserves of India stood at more than $100billion (the seventh largest in the world and a record for

India). The service sector had also generated a lot of jobs.






Vajpayee again broke the ice in the Indo-Pak relations by

inviting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to Delhi andAgra for a joint summit and peace talks. The summit failed toachieve a breakthrough, as President Musharraf declined toleave aside the issue of Kashmir.

On December 13, 2001, a group of masked, armed men withfake IDs stormed the Parliament building in Delhi. Theterrorists managed to kill several security guards, but thebuilding was sealed off swiftly and security forces corneredand killed the men, who were later proven to be Pakistan

nationals. Vajpayee ordered a mobilization of India's militaryforces, and as many as 500,000 servicemen amassed alongthe international boundary bordering Punjab, Rajasthan,Gujarat, and Kashmir. Pakistan responded with the same.For as long as two years, both nations remained perilously

close to a terrible war.






In 2000, the Tehelka group released incriminating videos of the

BJP President Bangaru Laxman, senior army officers and NDAmembers accepting bribes from journalists posing as agentsand businessmen.

The Defense Minister George Fernandes was forced to resignfollowing this Barak Missile Deal Scandal, another scandal

involving the botched supplies of coffins for the soldiers killedin Kargil.

Between December 2001 and March 2002: The VHP held theGovernment hostage in a major standoff in Ayodhya over theRam temple. Tens of thousands of VHP activists amassed andthreatened to overrun the site and forcibly build the temple.The communal violence and breakdown of law and order situation hung over the nation. The riots in Gujarat, "1,000people, mainly Muslims, died in some of the worst religious

violence in decades."






In late 2002 and 2003 the government pushed

economic reforms, and the country's GDP growthaccelerated at record levels, exceeding 6-7%. Goodcrop harvests and strong industrial expansion alsohelped the economy.

In July 2003,Vajpayee, visited China, and met withvarious Chinese leaders. He recognized Tibet, as apart of China, which was reacted to positively, by theChinese leadership, who the following year,

recognized Sikkim, as a part of India. Sino-IndianRelations, improved greatly, in the following years.

In November –December 2003, the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) won three major state elections. BJP

prepared for general elections in 2004.






The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was widely expected

to retain power after the 2004 general election. Theparliament had been dissolved before the completion of term in order to capitalize on the perceived 'feel-goodfactor' and BJP's recent successes in Assembly electionsin Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

On May 13, the BJP conceded defeat and the Congress wasable to put together a comfortable majority of more than335 members out of 543 (including external support fromBSP, SP, MDMK and the Left front) with the help of its allies

and under the direction of Sonia Gandhi. This post-pollalliance was called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

With the conditional support of the leftist parties from theoutside, the UPA formed a government under Dr Manmohan

Singh.






Vajpayee was criticized and blamed at a high-level

party meeting. He decided to give up the positionof the Leader of the Opposition to Lal Krishna Advani.However, he retained his post as Chairman of the NDA.

In December 2005, Vajpayee announced his retirement

from active politics, declaring that he would notparticipate in the next general election.

He is awarded with

• 1992, Padma Vibhushan

• 1993, D.Lit from Kanpur University• 1994, Lokmanya Tilak Award

• 1994, Best Parliamentarian Award: Bharat Ratna PanditGovind Vallabh Pant Award



Dr Manmohan Singh



Born to Gurmukh Singh and Amrit Kaur on 26 September

1932, in Gah, Punjab, (now in Chakwal District, Pakistan).After the Partition of India, his family migrated to Amritsar,

India, where he studied at Hindu College. He attendedPanjab University, Chandigarh, studying Economics andgot his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1952 and 1954,respectively.

He went on to read for the Economics Tripos at Cambridgeas a member of St John's College. He won the Wright'sPrize for distinguished performance in 1955 and 1957.

Singh completed his studies from the University of Oxfordwhere he was a member of Nuffield College. The title of hisdoctoral thesis was "India’s export performance, 1951–

1960, export prospects and policy implications" and his

thesis supervisor was Dr. I.M.D. Little

Dr. Manmohan Singh


Dr Manmohan Singh



In 1997, the University of Alberta awarded him

an Honorary Doctor of Law degree. The University of Oxford awarded him an honorary Doctor of Civil Lawdegree in June 2006, and in October 2006, the Universityof Cambridge followed with the same honor. St. John's

College further honored him by naming a Ph.DScholarship after him, the Dr. Manmohan SinghScholarship.

After completing his D.Phil, Singh worked for United NationsConference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) from1966 –1969.

In 1982, he was appointed the Governor of the Reserve Bankof India and held the post until 1985. He went on tobecome the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission

of India from 1985 to 1987.

Dr. Manmohan Singh


Dr. Manmohan Singh



He was appointed Secretary General of the

South Commission in Geneva from 1987 to 1990.In 1991, India's Prime Minister at the time, P.V. Narasimha

Rao, chose Singh to be his Finance Minister.

Rao and Singh thus implemented policies to open up the

economy and change India's socialist economy to amore capitalistic one, dismantling the License Raj in theprocess, a system that inhibited the prosperity of private businesses. He initiated the process of theprivatization of public sector companies.

In 1993, Singh offered his resignation from the post of Finance Minister after a parliamentary investigationreport criticized his ministry for not being able toanticipate a USD$1.8 billion securities scandal. Prime

Minister Rao refused Singh's resignation.

Dr. Manmohan Singh


Dr. Manmohan Singh



Singh was first elected to the upper house

of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, in 1991 and was re-elected in 2001 and 2007.

From 1998 to 2004, while the Bharatiya Janata Party wasin power, Singh was the Leader of the Opposition in

the Rajya Sabha. In 1999.After the 2004 general elections, the Indian National

Congress stunned the incumbent National DemocraticAlliance (NDA) by becoming the political party with the

single largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha.In a surprise move, United Progressive Alliance (UPA)

Chairperson Sonia Gandhi declared Manmohan Singh,a technocrat, as the UPA candidate for the Prime

Minister post.

Dr. Manmohan Singh


Dr Manmohan Singh



He took the oath as the Prime Minister of India on 22 May

2004.

He liberalized the Indian economy, allowing it to speed updevelopment dramatically.

In 2005, Singh's government introduced the Value added

tax, replacing sales tax.In 2007, India achieved its highest GDP growth rate of 9%

and became the second fastest growing major economy in the world.

In 2007 and early 2008, the global problem of inflationimpacted India.

The Singh government has also continued the SarvaShiksha Abhiyan programme, begun by his

predecessor, Mr. Vajpayee.

Dr. Manmohan Singh


Dr Manmohan Singh



Manmohan Singh's Government has continued the pragmatic

foreign policy that was started by P.V. Narasimha Rao andcontinued by Bharatiya Janata Party's Atal BihariVajpayee.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visited India which was followedby Singh's visit to Beijing in January 2008. As of 2010, thePeople's Republic of China is the second biggest tradepartner of India.

Relations with Afghanistan have also improved considerably,with India now becoming the largest regional donor to

Afghanistan.

He visited the United States in July 2005 initiatingnegotiations over the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement.This was followed by George W. Bush's successful visit to

India in March 2006.

Dr. Manmohan Singh


Dr Manmohan Singh



India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha April

and May 2009, where congress-led United ProgressiveAlliance (UPA) won the mandate to lead the LokSabha.

The Congress and its allies were able to put together a

comfortable majority with support from 322 membersout of 543 members of the House.

The 2009 Indian general election was the largestdemocratic election in the world held to date, with an

eligible electorate of 714 million.On 22 May 2009, Manmohan Singh was sworn in as the

Prime Minister and became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to win re-election after

completing a full five-year term.

Dr. Manmohan Singh


Dr. Manmohan Singh



Awards & Honours1952: University Medal for standing first in B.A.

(Honors Economics) – Punjab University.

1955: Wright Prize for Distinguished Performance(St. John’s College, Cambridge, U.K.)

1956 : Adam Smith Prize (University of Cambridge, U.K.)

1987: Padma Vibhushan (President of India)

1993: Finance Minister of the Year (Asiamoney & Euromoney)

1994: Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award (1994 –95)

1997: Lokmanya Tilak Award

1999: H.H. Kanchi Sri Paramacharya Award for Excellence

2000: Annasaheb Chirmule Award

2002 : Outstanding Parliamentarian Award

2005: Top 100 Influential People in the World (Time)

2010 : World Statesman Award

g

INDIA IN WORLD



Largest producer in the world of milk,

jute and pulses, Tea, Millet, Raw Sugar.Largest in Cell phone usage

Largest in postal network

Second in PopulationSecond in Labor Force.

Second largest cattle population.

Second largest producer of Rice, Wheat,Sugarcane, Cotton yarn, Groundnutsand Tobacco,

INDIA IN WORLD



2nd Largest fruit and vegetable producer.

2nd Largest producer and the largestconsumer of silk in the world.

2nd Largest in Arable Land and IrrigatedArea.

2nd in Roadways – total

3rd

in Area - Water 3rd Producer of Coal (Hard)

3rd Producer of Castor

INDIA IN WORLD



4th Largest economy in the world in PPP terms

4th Producer of Cement, Wheat and Cotton.4th Global Military Power.

4th in Railways – total

4th in Internet Users5th Producer of Egg(Hen)

5th in Oil consumption (2009 est.)

6th in Oil Imports6th in Reserve of Foreign exchange & Gold

(2010 est.)

6th in Electricity Production & Consumption

INDIA IN WORLD



7th in GDP – Real Growth Rate (2010 est.)

7th in Land Area in World

8th Position in Electricity generated.

8th in Fish Catching

10th in World Badminton

12th in terms of nominal factory output

13th in services output.

13th in Imports (2010 est.)

16th in Natural Gas consumption

17th in Natural Gas Imports (2009 est)

17th in Industrial Product growth (2009 est.)

17th in Shi in Tonna e

INDIA IN WORLD



22nd in Natural Gas Production (2009 est.)

22nd in Exports (2010 est.)24th in Oil Production (2009 est.)

26th in Natural Gas Proved Reserve (2010 )

28th in Debt External (2010 est.)41st in Governance (2011 est.)

41st /106 Suicide Rate (2010 est.)

42nd in Public Debt (2010 est.)53rd in Economy (2011 est.)

68th /139 in Tourism (2011 est.)

INDIA IN WORLD



73rd in Personal Freedom (2011 est.)

73rd / 77: Best Place to be Mother (2010 est.)85th/110 Per Capita GDP Ranking (2011 est.)

87th /178 in TI Corruption Perception Index

(2011 est.)88th in Education

90th in Enterprenurship & Opportunity (2011

est.)95th in Health (2011 est.)

97th in Safety & Security (2011 est.)

INDIA IN WORLD



104th in Social Capital (2011 est.)

118th

in Unemployment. (2010 est.)119/169 : UN Human Development Index(2011)

122nd / 178 : Press Freedom Index (2010 est.)

135/153 in Vision of Humanity Global PeaceIndex (2011 est.)

162nd in FIFA world ranking (2011 est.)

164th

GDP-Per Capita (2010 est.)173rd in Literacy – Total Population

205th in Inflation Rate (Consumer prices)

25% Population below poverty line (2007 est.)

INDIA IS ON RACE



ARE YOU PART OF IT?



bitumishra@yahoo com

2012

Primeminister of India

Documents

Transcript of Primeminister of India