India Prime Minister. Served as Prime Minster of India from June 20, 1991, to May 16, 1996. The first politician from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to head the Indian government for a full five-year term, he was born Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao into an upper-caste Brahmin farming family in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. He launched his political career when he was still in law school, joining protests against British colonialists. One of India’s most well-read politicians he spoke half-a-dozen languages including French and Spanish. Remembered most for joining his finance minister, Manmohan Singh, who later became prime minister, to introduce reforms to open India's closed economy to the world and free it from stifling state control. When he came to power in 1991 as leader of a minority government, the economy was ailing, and India was facing a balance-of-payments crisis. His government then devalued the rupee and began lifting controls and easing regulations that had hamstrung the quasi-socialist economy since India's independence. The government also began to promote exports and to reposition itself in a post-cold-war world by strengthening relations with the United States and renewing ties with Israel and South Africa. He was also a poet and wrote fiction publishing "The Insider" in 1998, which blended autobiography and fiction to tell the story of a village boy who rose to become prime minister.
India Prime Minister. Served as Prime Minster of India from June 20, 1991, to May 16, 1996. The first politician from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to head the Indian government for a full five-year term, he was born Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao into an upper-caste Brahmin farming family in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. He launched his political career when he was still in law school, joining protests against British colonialists. One of India’s most well-read politicians he spoke half-a-dozen languages including French and Spanish. Remembered most for joining his finance minister, Manmohan Singh, who later became prime minister, to introduce reforms to open India's closed economy to the world and free it from stifling state control. When he came to power in 1991 as leader of a minority government, the economy was ailing, and India was facing a balance-of-payments crisis. His government then devalued the rupee and began lifting controls and easing regulations that had hamstrung the quasi-socialist economy since India's independence. The government also began to promote exports and to reposition itself in a post-cold-war world by strengthening relations with the United States and renewing ties with Israel and South Africa. He was also a poet and wrote fiction publishing "The Insider" in 1998, which blended autobiography and fiction to tell the story of a village boy who rose to become prime minister.
Bio by: Fred Beisser
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