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The Prime Minister of India is the chief executive of Government of India. Indian Constitution names the President as head of state de jure, but his or her de facto executive powers are vested in the post of Prime Minister. Appointed and sworn-in by the President, the Prime Minister is usually the leader of the party or alliance that has a majority in Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament. Below is a List of Prime Ministers of India.

Gulzarilal Nanda (acting) who twice acted in the role, firstly from 27 June to 9 June 1964 and secondly from 11 January to 24 January 1966, was not the full-term prime minister.

The Updated List of Prime Ministers of India

S. No. Prime Minister Start date of term End date of term
1 Jawaharlal Nehru 15 August 1947 27 May 1964
2 Lal Bahadur Shastri 9 June 1964 11 January 1966
3 Indira Gandhi 24 January 1966 31 October 1984
4 Morarji Desai 24 March 1977 28 July 1979
5 Charan Singh 28 July 1979 14 January 1980
6 Rajiv Gandhi 31 October 1984 2 December 1989
7 V. P. Singh 2 December 1989 10 November 1990
8 Chandra Shekhar 10 November 1990 21 June 1991
9 P. V. Narasimha Rao 21 June 1991 16 May 1996
10 Atal Bihari Vajpayee 16 May 1996 22 May 2004
11 H. D. Deve Gowda 1 June 1996 21 April 1997
12 I. K. Gujral 21 April 1997 19 March 1998
13 Manmohan Singh 22 May 2004 26 May 2014
14 Narendra Modi 26 May 2014 incumbent

Jawaharlal Nehru

Father: Motilal Nehru
Mother: Swaroop Rani Thussu
Spouse: Kamala Kaul
Jawaharlal Nehru (born 14 November 1889 – died 27 May 1964) was the first Prime Minister of India, appointed by President Rajendra Prasad. He emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi. He was also known as Pandit Nehru due to his roots with the Kashmiri Pandit community while many Indian children knew him as “Uncle Nehru” (Chacha Nehru). He was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Children’s Day. His age at beginning of the term was 57 years, 274 days.

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Father: Sharada Prasad Shastri
Mother: Ramdulari Devi
Spouse: Lalita Devi
Lal Bahadur Shastri (born 2 October 1904 – died 11 January 1966) was a leader of the Indian National Congress party, appointed by the President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. He also served on various posts of Govt of India viz. Railways Minister (1951–56), and then in a variety of other functions, including Home Minister. He led the country during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. His slogan of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” became very popular during the war and is remembered even today. Shastri was awarded with Bharat Ratna in 1966 (Posthumous). His age at beginning of the term was 57 years, 274 days

Indira Gandhi

Father: Jawaharlal Nehru
Mother: Kamala Kaul
Spouse: Feroze Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (born 19 November 1917 – died 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and first female Prime Minister of India, appointed by President Rajendra Prasad and V. V. Giri. As the Prime Minister of India, Gandhi was known for her political ruthlessness and unprecedented centralisation of power. She played an important role by interrupting with Indian armed forces in creation of Bangladesh, as well as increasing India’s influence to became the regional hegemon of South Asia. Gandhi also presided over a controversial state of emergency from 1975 to 1977. In 1999, Indira was named “Woman of the Millennium” in a poll organised by BBC. She was the first PM to be from the Rajya Sabha. His age at beginning of the term was 48 years, 66 days.

Morarji Desai

Father: Ranchhodji Desai
Mother: Vajiaben Desai
Spouse: Gujraben
Morarji Desai, the Nishan-e-Pakistan, (born 29 February 1896 – died 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and the first Prime Minister to head India’s first non-Congress Government. He held many important posts in the Government of India such as: Chief Minister of Bombay State, Home Minister, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India etc. He was appointed by President (acting) B. D. Jatti. His age at beginning of the term was 81 years, 23 days.

Charan Singh

Father: Meer Singh
Mother: Netra Kaur
Spouse: Gayatri Devi
Chaudhary Charan Singh (born 23 December 1902 – died 29 May 1987) was the first Prime Minister of Republic of India who belong to Jat community, appointed by the President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. He did his post-graduation from Agra University in 1925. He started practice as a Civil Lawyer at Ghaziabad in 1928. He became particularly notable in Uttar Pradesh since the 1950s for drafting and ensuring the most revolutionary Land Reform laws. His age at beginning of the term was 76 years, 217 days.

Rajiv Gandhi

Father: Feroze Gandhi
Mother: Indira Gandhi
Spouse: Sonia Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (born 20 August 1944 – died 21 May 1991) was appointed as Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. His contemporary Presidents of India were Zail Singh and R. Venkataraman. Rajiv Gandhi’s period in office was mired in controversies; like Bhopal disaster, Shah Bano case, conflict with the LTTE and Bofors scandal. His age at beginning of the term was 40 years, 72 days.

V. P. Singh

Father: Ram Gopal Singh
Mother: Rani Raj Kanwar
Spouse: Sita Kumari
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (born 25 June 1931 – died 27 November 2008), was an Indian politician and government official. He was the 41st nominal Raja Bahadur (ruler) of the northern feudal estate of Manda. Singh is known for trying to improve the lot of India’s lower castes as a Prime Minister. He also remained Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance in central govt of India. He also remained Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. His age at beginning of the term was 58 years, 160 days.

Chandra Shekhar

Spouse: Smt. Duja Devi
Chandra Shekhar Singh (born 1 July 1927 – died 8 July 2007) was the prime minister of India, appointed by the President R. Venkataraman. Chandra Shekhar was remembered for his strict adherence to the parliamentary conventions and he was also honoured with the inaugural Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in the year 1995. He was among the very few individuals within the ruling Congress party to be sent to jail during Emergency. His age at beginning of the term was 63 years, 132 days.

P. V. Narasimha Rao

Father: P. Sitarama Rao
Mother: Rukminiamma
Spouse: Satyamma Rao
Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao (born 28 June 1921 – died 23 December 2004), an Indian lawyer and politician, was the first Prime Minister of India from a non-Hindi-speaking region, belonging to southern part of India. He also served in Central Cabinet as Minister of Defence, Minister of External Affairs and Minister of Home Affairs. He also served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Rao’s term as Prime Minister was an eventful one in India’s history. He spoke 17 languages. His age at beginning of the term was 69 years, 358 days.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Father: Krishna Bihari Vajpayee
Mother: Krishna Devi
Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 25 December 1924), a Poet, Journalist and Political activist, served as Prime Minister first for 13 days in 1996, secondly for 13 months until mid-1999 and thirdly from 1998 to 2004. He is the first Prime Minister from outside the Indian National Congress party to serve a full five-year term. He also served as Minister of External Affairs in central govt of India. He was awarded with Padma Vibhushan in 1992 and Bharat Ratna in 2015. He successfully led the country during the Operation Vijay of 1999. His age at beginning of the term was 71 years, 143 days.

H. D. Deve Gowda

Father: Dodde Gowda
Mother: Devamma
Spouse: Chennamma Deve Gowda
Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda (born 18 May 1933), an Indian politician and the Prime Minister of India, who also served as 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka. He also served as cabinet Minister of Home Affairs. He remained a Member and Leader of the House, Rajya Sabha. President Shankar Dayal Sharma appointed him as the Prime Minister. He was the second PM to be from the Rajya Sabha. His age at beginning of the term was 63 years, 14 days.

Inder Kumar Gujral

Father: Avtar Narain
Mother: Pushpa Gujral
Spouse: Shiela Gujral
Inder Kumar Gujral (born 4 December 1919 – died 30 November 2012) was an Indian politician who served as the Prime Minister of India. Gujral was the third PM to be from the Rajya Sabha. He also served as Minister of Finance, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Minister of External Affairs. His contemporary Presidents were Shankar Dayal Sharma and K. R. Narayanan. His age at beginning of the term was 77 years, 138 days.

Manmohan Singh

Father: Gurmukh Singh
Mother: Amrit Kaur
Spouse: Gursharan Kaur
Manmohan Singh (born 26 September 1932), an Indian economist and politician, is the second Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. He is the first Sikh in PMO. He also served as Member and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Governor of Reserve Bank of India and Minister of Finance. During his second term as PM, his government faced a number of corruption charges; like, the organisation of the Commonwealth Games, the 2G-spectrum allocation, the allocation of coal blocks etc. he saw three contemporary Presidents namely; A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee. His age at beginning of the term was 71 years, 239 days.

Narendra Modi

Father: Damodardas Mulchand Modi
Mother: Hiraben Modi
Spouse: Jashodaben Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950), an Indian politician, is the 14th Prime Minister of India, in office since May 2014. He served as Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014. He became the first Prime Minister born after India’s independence. Forbes Magazine ranked him 9th-Most-Powerful Person in the World in 2015 and 2016. He was honored with awards of Order of Abdulaziz al Saud and State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan. His age at beginning of the term was 63 years, 251 days.

This list of Prime Ministers of India will be updated in a timely manner.

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