Manmohan Singh

A quiet scholar in a light blue turban helped India change forever in 1991. His name was Dr.

Manmohan Singh, and as Finance Minister he opened India's economy to the world, so that Indian companies and Indian goods could travel freely. Later, from 2004 to 2014, he served as Prime Minister for ten years.

He was soft-spoken, always polite, and never stopped studying even when he was leading the country.

Manmohan Singh was born in 1932 in Gah, a village now in Pakistan. He studied economics at Punjab University, Cambridge and Oxford, and later held top jobs at the United Nations, the Reserve Bank of India (as Governor) and the Planning Commission.

In 1991, when India faced a serious money crisis, he became Finance Minister under Prime Minister P. V.

Narasimha Rao and led the reforms that dismantled the old 'licence raj' and opened up trade, industry and investment.

He served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014, leading the United Progressive Alliance government. During these years India's economy grew fast, the government passed the Right to Information Act, launched MGNREGA (a huge rural jobs guarantee), and signed the historic India–US civil nuclear deal.

He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1987 and is widely respected as one of the calmest, most learned Prime Ministers India has known.