Fourth Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

Early life

Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, politician and freedom fighter who served as the ninth Prime Minister of India (1991–1996)and served asChief Minister of Andhrapradesh(1971-09-30 – 1973-01-10).He led an important administration, overseeing a major economic transformation and several home incidents affecting national security of India.

Rao who held the Industries portfolio was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj as this came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He is often referred to as the "Father of Indian Economic Reforms".

Future prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh would continue the economic reform policies pioneered by Rao's government. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the License Raj, reversing the socialist policies of Rajiv Gandhi's government.

e employed Dr. Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister to embark on historic economic transition. With Rao's mandate, Dr. Manmohan Singh launched India's globalisation angle of the reforms that implemented the International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies to rescue the almost bankrupt nation from economic collapse.

Rao was also referred to as Chanakya for his ability to steer tough economic and political legislation through the parliament at a time when he headed a minority government.

Economic crisis and initiation of liberalisation

Rao decided that India, which in 1991 was on the brink of bankruptcy,would benefit from liberalising its economy. He appointed an economist, Dr. Manmohan Singh, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, as Finance Minister to accomplish his goals.This liberalization was criticized by many socialist nationalists at that time.

Handling of separatist movements

Rao has successfully decimated the Punjab separatist movement and neutralised Kashmir separatist movement. It is said that Rao was 'solely responsible' for the decision to hold elections in Punjab, no matter how narrow the electorate base would be.

In dealing with Kashmir Rao's government was highly restrained by US government and its president Mr.Clinton. Rao's government introduced the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), India's first anti-terrorism legislation, and directed the Indian Army to eliminate the infiltrators.

Despite a heavy and largely successful Army campaign, the state descended into a security nightmare. Tourism and commerce were largely disrupted. Special police units were often accused of committing atrocities against the local population, Rape, kidnapping, torture and detention under false accusations.

Later life and financial difficulties

In the 1996 general elections Rao's Congress Party was badly defeated and he had to step down as Prime Minister. He retained the leadership of the Congress party until late 1996 after which he was replaced by Sitaram Kesri.

According to Congress insiders who spoke with the media, Rao had kept an authoritarian stance on both the party and his government, which led to the departure of numerous prominent and ambitious Congress leaders during his reign.

citation needed] Rao rarely spoke of his personal views and opinions during his 5-year tenure. After his retirement from national politics Rao published a novel called The Insider (ISBN 0-670-87850-2). The book, which follows a man’s rise through the ranks of Indian politics, resembled events from Rao’s own life.

According to a vernacular source, despite holding many lucrative posts he faced many financial troubles. One of his sons was educated with the assistance of his son-in-law. He also faced trouble in paying fees for a daughter of his who was then studying medicine.

According to PVRK Prasad, an IAS officer who was Narasimha Rao's media advisor when the latter was Prime Minister, Rao asked his friends to sell away his house at Banajara hills to clear the dues of advocates.[66] Rao was afraid of dying before clearing his dues to the lawyers. Rao suffered a heart attack on 9 December 2004, and was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences where he died 14 days later at the age of 83

Literary Achievement

Rao had great interest in Indian literature among many languages. He was very fluent in many languages including his mother tongue Telugu, Marathi, Hindi, English, Tamil, French etc. Due to his college education in Fergusson College In Pune,he was very prolific reader & speaker of Marathi.

He translated the great Telugu literary work Veyipadagalu of Kavi Samraat Viswanatha Satyanarayana into Hindi as Sahasraphan. He also translated Hari Narayan Apte's Marathi novel 'Pan Lakshat Kon Gheto?'(But who thinks?) into Telugu.

He was also invited to be the chief guest of Akhil Bhartiya Marathi Sahitya Sanmelan where he gave speech in Marathi. In his later life, he wrote his autobiography 'The Insider' which depicts his experiences in politics.