Prime Ministers of India

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru : 1947 – 1964 (17 years)

 First Prime Minister of Independent India,

who held the PM office for longest period i.e. 17 yrs.
 One of the leading figures in Indian Independence
Movement.
 Creating Planning Commission of India he drew up first
Five Year Plan (We call it as budget ) which highlighted
areas like agriculture, increasing business & economic
taxes.
 His Govt. paid attention to the institutions for higher education like, IIMS, IIT and IIM.
 He died of a heart attack on 26th May 1964.

Gulzarilal Nanda : May 1964 – June 1964, January 1966 (28 days)

 He was interim Prime minister on India, first time after

death of Jawaharlal Nehru and second time after death of
Lal Bahadur Shastri.
 During British Govt. he was the member of Bombay
Legislative assembly.
 Later elected to the Loksabha as a Union Minister for Labor
Employment and Planning in 1957.
 He died on 15th January 1998

Lal Bahadur Shastri : June 1964 – Jan 1966 (582 days)

 Lal Bahadur Shastri was very popular amongst Indian populace

 Pushed the Green revolution in India, which directly lead India
becoming a Food – Surplus Nation.
 Shastri witnessed Indo – Pak War of 1965.
 Died os heart attack on 11th jan 1966 just after the day of
declaration of ceasefire of the war.
 Although it was officially maintained that he was dies of heart
attack his family kept alleging that he was poisoned.

Indira Gandhi : Jan 1966 – March 1977, Jan 1984 – Oct 1984 (5,831 days)

 First and only lady Prime Minister of India.

 Very successful during her period
 Witnessed Indo – Pak war of 1971
 India was victorious in the 1971 war, and Bangladesh was born.
 Indira Gandhi Govt. decreed a 40% devaluation in the value of
the Indian rupee from 4 to 7 to the United States.
  Indira Gandhi successfully conducted an underground nuclear test, unofficially code named as
"Smiling Buddha",
 She applied special agricultural innovation programs, which transformed India's chronic food
shortages into surplus production of wheat, rice, cotton and milk.
 On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhi's bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, assassinated
her with their service weapons

Morarji Desai : March 1977 – July 1979 (857 days)

 Morarji Ranchhodji Desai , was an Indian independence activist.

first Indian Prime Minister who did not belong to the Indian National
Congress.
 Desai worked to improve relations with neighbor and arch-rival
Pakistan and restored normal relations with China, for the first
time since the 1962 war.
 In 1979 Desai resigned from office and retire from politics at the
age of 83.
 He died at the age of 99 in Mumbai.

Chaudhary Charan Singh : July 1979 – Jan 1980 (171 days)

 Chaudhary Charan Singh was the sixth Prime Minister of the

Republic of India.
 He opened high level diplomatic relations with Israel.
 Charan Singh died on 29 May 1987.

Rajiv Gandhi : Oct 1984 – Dec 1989

 The youngest Prime Minister of India when he took

office at the age of 40, after his mother Indira Gandhi was
assassinated in Oct 1984.
 Earlier he worked as a Professional Pilot with Indian Airlines.
 He increased government support for science and technology
and associated industries
 reduced import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-based
industries, especially computers, airlines, defence and
Telecommunications.
 Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while campaigning for the
Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate on 21 May 1991.
V. P. Singh : Dec 1989 – Nov 1990 (344 days)

 He was born in the Rajput Gaharwal Royal Family

 He was firstly appointed aas Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
 decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal
Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in
the public sector be reserved for Other Backward Classes.
 The Babri Masjid was destroyed during the Singh’s Govt.
 V. P. Singh died after a long struggle with multiple myeloma
(bone marrow cancer) on 27 November 2008.

Chandra Shekhar : Nov 1990 – June 1991 (224 days)

 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

 Shekhar was known for abiding by the parliamentary
conventions and was honoured with the inaugural Outstanding
Parliamentarian Award in 1995.
 He won elections to the Lok Sabha eight times from Ballia
constituency in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
 Chandra Shekhar died at the age of 80 in New Delhi on 8 July 2007.

P. V Narsimha Rao : June 1991 – May 1996 (1,785 days)

 10th Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

 He led one of the most important administrations in
India's modern history, overseeing a major economic
transformation and several incidents affecting national
security.
 Started National Stock Exchange as a computer-based
trading system in 1994.
 Rao energized the national nuclear security and ballistic
missiles program, which ultimately resulted in the 1998
Pokhran nuclear tests
 He died of a heart attack on 23 December 2004

Atal Bihari Vajpayee : May 1996 – June 1996, Oct 1999 – May 2004

 11th Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

 In May 1998, India conducted five underground nuclear tests in
Pokhran, Rajasthan.
 The Lahore summit between India and Pakistan held between
The period of Vajpayee Govt.
 Kargil War held during period of Vajpayee Govt.
  On 13 October 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee took oath as Prime Minister of India for the third
time. The BJP-led NDA had won 303 seats in the 543 seat Lok Sabha in the aftermath of
Kargil operation.
 Vajpayee oversaw his National Highway Development Project and Pradhan Mantri Gram
Sadak Yojana begin construction

H. D. Deve Gowda : June 1996 – April 1997

 12th Prime Minister of the Republic of India

 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.

Inder Kumar Gujral : April 1997 – Nov 1997

 13th Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

 Prime Minister Gujral continued in the office for over 11
months, including 3 months as caretaker Prime Minister.
During this time, he attempted to improve relations with
Pakistan.

Dr. Manmohan Singh : May 2004 – till date

 14th and current Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

 He is the first Indian Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to
return to power after completing a full five-year term.
 Singh previously carried out economic reforms in India during
his tenure as the Finance Minister from 1991 to 1996.
 Minister has continued the peace process with Pakistan initiated
by his predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
 He improved relations between India and Afghanistan.
 Singh's government has worked towards stronger ties with
the United States.
 He started the National Rural Health Mission, which has mobilised half a million community
health workers.