NEW DELHI: The country is deeply saddened by the demise of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who played a key role in India's economic growth. Many laws were enacted during his tenure to bring the grassroots of India to progress.
The Right to Information Act is one of the most important of these. Manmohan Singh enacted the Right to Information Act to ensure the right of the people to know. The transparency it brought to the public was not small. With the RTI Act coming into force in 2005, the authorities could no longer hide information about the government or government institutions. With this, the common citizen also got the power to raise questions and present arguments against the governments.
At a time when child marriages were increasing in India, it was Manmohan Singh who introduced a law ensuring education for children between the ages of six and 14 in the country. Apart from this, he also implemented the Food Security Act, the Act to ensure protection for street vendors, and the Indian Companies Act. Laws like the Lokpal and the Lok Ayukta Act were also implemented during Manmohan Singh's tenure. It was during his tenure that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme opened a new life for unskilled workers. He also worked to ensure 27 percent reservation for backward castes in higher educational institutions.
RBI Governor
The name Manmohan Singh, who signs Indian currency notes as the Governor of the Reserve Bank, would first come to the minds of the common people of India. After shining as the finance minister in the P V Narasimha Rao cabinet, Manmohan Singh, who has a soft-spoken personality, became more familiar to the country.
The liberalization policies that made the Indian market strong were a testament to Manmohan Singh's prowess. After becoming the Prime Minister, he was able to implement them more extensively. The basis for India becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the world was the budget presented by Manmohan Singh as the finance minister on July 24 in 1991.