A leader of substance: Along with Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari

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Abstract: 

Today, we celebrate the 88th birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who, along with Narasimha Rao, must be credited with laying the foundation of the new India. To date, he also remains the only non-Congress prime minister to serve a full term.

A member of Parliament for over four decades, Vajpayee served as India’s prime minister from March 1998 to May 2004. With Yashwant Sinha as finance minister on his side, he transformed the economic policy framework wholesale. Telecommunications, civil aviation, banking, insurance, public sector enterprises, foreign trade and investment, direct and indirect taxes, agricultural produce marketing, small-scale industries reservation, urban land ceilings, highways, rural roads, elementary education, ports, electricity, petroleum prices and interest rates were all subject to far-reaching reforms during his tenure.