Best Moments and Biggest Regrets of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister: An In-Depth Overview

Manmohan Singh Indian prime ministrer 14th with two consecutive elections from 2004 to 2014. Though it possesses calm qualities, an economic experience as well as a liberalization push within the tenure, Manmohan has been through both ups and downs. As a minister, Manmohan lacks the active approach of an administrative officer within the government; however as a politician he differs regarding India and its politics.

We shall examine the greatest successes as prime minister and Manmohan Singh‘s greatest regrets while in the office of India. From landmark reforms to the lost opportunities in between, this tenure by Singh offers lessons not only to India but to the world at large. To present such, we shall review his impact on the Indian development agenda, coupled with a personal reflection during his term of office.

Major success and good times of Manmohan Singh

It is also known as the record breaker in terms of being the Prime Minister of economic reforms and growth, international diplomacy, and efforts toward continuous peace in a political scenario very complicated to handle.

Economic Reforms and Growth
India’s economic policy stands as the most evident success story of Manmohan Singh as a Prime Minister. He will definitely be remembered as that architect who laid down the foundation of India’s 1991 economic liberalization; however, during his period, Singh continued with the economic reforms that had greatly contributed towards the growth of India’s economy.

This: when at that time Singh was an entrant of the country it is observing GDP growth of close 8 percent by any yardstick. As can be imagined it takes all those people in the order of millions from that threshold of poverty, putting all the economy into a leading ranks of the world.
Some of the reforms which were there are-

Financial Sector Reforms: That too had reforms in the sectors of finance and economics besides reforming the banking sectors along with introducing GST or Goods and Services Tax, one of the giant steps towards a less complicated taxation structure of India.
Economic Liberalization: The Singh government consolidated the lead begun by the 1991 reforms; liberalized trade, foreign investments, and infrastructure creation, all of which have contributed to India’s economic boom in the early 2000s.

2. India’s Nuclear Deal with the United States (2008)

The India-US nuclear deal sealed in 2008 is another hallmark event in the regime of Singh. The deal marked the end of nuclear isolation that India suffered since it henceforth gained access to the civilian nuclear technology of other countries. India did not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). This elevated India’s geopolitical status and was an accomplished diplomatic triumph.

Social Welfare Programs
Some of the major social welfare programs are the eradication and betterment of the poor. The notable programs undertaken are as under:

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The above act that came in 2005 has an intention to generate employment opportunities for rural families and thus eradicate rural poverty.
National Food Security Act: An act has been framed in 2013 so that inexpensive food grains may be doled out to the extent of 67 percent of India’s population, providing thereby security to the right of food to millions of families.

4. Diplomatic Successes

In the time of Singh, some diplomatic successes of his engagements include the neighboring countries also as well as other international ones. Indeed, Singh attempted to establish relations with more integral players such as United States, China, and Pakistan also. Therefore, he wanted India to be an emerging power at the global scale.
– India-Pakistan Relations: The most of what Singh was able to do during his tenor was to bring India and Pakistan almost close to good relations, which on many occasions were over powered by political and terrorism forces.
– India’s Global Influence: As the PM Singh made the country strong enough to join the many organizations to which India is a member at present the list includes the United Nationsand the World Trade Organization.

Best of Lapses as Prime Minister

Though the Manmohan Singh government was fundamentally marked by economic growth and international diplomacy, there are some moments he later called regret. Even if all those were true, there would hardly be any challenge from either the political or the personal angle when Singh would have been in office.

1. The 2G Spectrum Scandal
One of the biggest disappointments of the Singh government has been the manner in which he handled the 2G spectrum scandal. It, during his second term as prime minister, went into full-blown political and legal warfare when the misallocated spectrum licenses issued in 2008 involved a loss of billions of dollars to the Indian exchequer.

Though the scandal has no direct connection to the government of Singh, some blows were indeed dealt to the administration of Singh because of this issue. He is said to have responded very late and not very decisively to the issue. He says he has been betrayed by the whole scandal and that his administration could have done much better in response to the scandal.

Failure in Managing UPA Allies
A divided coalition government-that is, the United Progressive Alliance, or UPA-almost throughout marked his tenure. One of the big challenges during his tenure was that Singh could not manage the often-conflicting interests of his allies, like regional parties, and therefore created instability and delayed reforms.

This finally led to the resignation of the UPA government in 2014 for two consecutive terms mainly due to the infighting factions within and ineffective leadership. Singh had always been too intellectual as well as economic and at times had a problem digesting the dynamics of coalition politics.

Inability to Deal with Corruption
While the Singh administration has logged some path-breaking reforms in certain areas, most of the time, it faces criticism for not aggressively confronting corruption in his rule. The fact is that while he was in office, there were successive corruption scandals from the Commonwealth Games scandal and the Adarsh Housing scam and so forth, for which little happened in return to the scammers.

He is much more candidly truthful when he admits that the reputation of his government has been marred by corruption. He shares the burden of blame not achieving enough for the fact of corruption both in his party and amongst his coalition mates.

Economic Reforms Ignored
All these aside, still, criticism lingers that the Manmohan Singh government was not stringent enough to have ushered in more radical reforms, particularly in labour laws and the policies connected to the issue of land acquisition, which, according to most analyses, are being said to be the causes why India’s economic growth for the last ten years did not exactly pick up momentum.
What were some of the greatest accomplishments that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh achieved while in office?
Under his tenure as the Prime Minister, not a few of the greatest achievements attained include India US nuclear deal in the year 2008, key economic reforms that really sparked growth; NREGA, as well as several more social welfare measures, etc. Not to be omitted in this regard is the National Food Security Act.
What does Manmohan Singh regret for while remaining the prime minister?
Major faults of Singh are: he has handled the case of the 2G spectrum scam quite coarsely, his perception about handling his own UPA allies badly; nothing more was done about the raging corruption under him as it was all over during his tenure, and what could have been economically improved in India’s reforms and led its economy to greater heights, are lost.

3. What effects did Manmohan Singh have on the Indian economy?

In relation to liberalization policies, following the 1991 movement, Singh embraced and consented to the reforms that were already in hand initially.
During the prime ministership period under Manmohan Singh, the Indian economy had reached a very significant level because of emphasis on sectors like foreign investments, infrastructural, and finance.

Did Manmohan Singh ever face defeat for the length of his Prime Ministership?
Of course, Singh was heavily indicted of his reluctant attitude to enter into politics vis-a-vis the challenges of dealing with coalitional politics and also in dealing with the scandalous issues relating to corruption. At some or other levels, the PM has been found to be not aggressive and is not aggressively powerful to tackle some really big issues which call for very strong leadership.
Manmohan Singh’s legacy:
He was that face marking the future economic development for modern India. An international diplomat’s champ, whose efforts were there towards a social welfare. This best sums Manmohan Singh’s leadership in these words: though perhaps not a victor over every problem, most certainly visionary economics and an honourable leader.

Conclusion: Leadership of Manmohan Singh and Reflections

The Manmohan Singh period as a Prime Minister of India in several ways may outline terrific success stories in the economic reform as well as global diplomacy along with social development. However, birth to another crucial challenge as well as a matter of regret in an example form is the case with such scandals of corruption that have not been followed by some critical reform.

Apart from this, though, Singh is one of the most respected figures in Indian politics today. This man will be remembered because at that point, governance approached intellectual means, and India, with Singh’s skill, managed to come out alive from some rather significant global changeovers. His legacy inspires, while his best moments and his biggest regrets give lessons to come.

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