India's Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Credit: Reuters File Photo
India's former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh passed away at the age of 92 at the All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi, late Thursday evening. Dr Singh was one of India's longest serving prime ministers and lauded for his liberalising economic reforms, profound intellect and unwavering dedication to public service.
Dr Singh was born on September 26, 1932, in Gah in Punjab province, now in Pakistan. His academic journey began at Punjab University where he studied economics. He went on to earn a first class honours degree in economics from the University of Cambridge. Singh followed this with a D Phil from Nuffield College at Oxford University in 1962.
He is survived by his wife Gursharan Kaur and three daughters - Upinder Singh, Amrit Singh and Daman Singh. His daughters have made remarkable strides in their respective fields.
Upinder Singh is a renowned historian who has extensively researched ancient Indian history, archaeology and political ideas. She is the Dean of Faculty at Ashoka University. She has also served as the head of the History Department at the University of Delhi. She is an alumna of St Stephen's College, Delhi and McGill University, Montreal. She has done numerous fellowships from esteemed institutions like Harvard, Cambridge and Leiden.
Some of her renowned books includeA History of Ancient and Early Medieval India and Political Violence in Ancient India. In 2009 she was honoured with the Infosys Prize in Social Science.
The middle daughter, Amrit Singh, is an eminent human rights lawyer and Professor of the Practice of Law at Stanford Law School. She has also served as the Executive Director of the Rule of Law Impact Lab. Amrit has degrees from Yale Law School, Oxford and Cambridge University. She has advocated global human rights cases, including landmark litigation against torture and arbitrary detention practices. She has also worked extensively on international advocacy, cases including the European Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. She writes for publications such as The Guardian and The New York Times on topics of democracy and rule of law.
Dr Singh's youngest daughter, Daman Singh, known for her deeply personal and analytical works, is an accomplished writer. She has authored the memoir Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan, which provides insights into her parents' lives. Her other books include, The Sacred Grove and Nine by Nine which is a reflection of her versatility as an author.