List of all Prime Ministers of India | General Knowledge Encyclopedia - Class 8 PDF Download

1. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

The first Prime Minister of India is Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. He was born on 14 November 1889 and died on 27 May 1964. Jawaharlal Nehru is the longest-serving Prime Minister of India and was elected 4 times as the Prime Minister.
He was in service for a total of 16 years 286 days.

• 1st: 15 August 1947 – 15 April 1952
• 2nd: 15 April 1952 – 17 April 1957
• 3rd: 17 April 1957 – 02 April 1962
• 4th: 02 April 1962 – 27 May 1964

Interesting Facts

• Every year November 14 is celebrated as Children’s Day in memory of Jawarharlal’s birthday. Children called him Chacha Nehru.
• During the fight against the British Raj for freedom, Pandit Nehru was imprisoned 9 times, a total of 3259 days which adds up to 9 years.
• Jawaharlal Nehru survived many assassinations in his service, his death was due to a heart attack.
• Nehru rejected wearing western dress during the freedom movement. He donned Indian wear like the long kurta, sherwanis, churidars, and his famous Nehru Topi and Nehru Jacket.
• Pandit Nehru’s elder sister Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first female president of the United Nations.

2. Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri is popularly known for his slogan of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ during the Indo-Pak war in 1965. He was born on 2 October 1904 and died on 11 January 1966.
Interesting Facts

• He was the second Prime Minister of India.
• Mr. Shastri promoted the White Revolution, a national campaign to increase the production and supply of milk.
• He also promoted the Green Revolution to boost India’s food production in the year 1965.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri graduated with a first-class degree in philosophy and ethics from the Vidyapith in 1925.
• Shastri was the first to appoint women conductors when he was Transport Minister.
• Lal Bahadur Shastri was the first railway minister who resigned from office following a major train accident as he felt moral responsibility.

3. Indira Gandhi

Smt. Indira Gandhi was born on 19 November 1917 and was assassinated on 31 October 1984. Her full name was Indira Priyadarshini Nehru before she got married to Feroze Gandhi an Indian politician.
Interesting Facts

• Indira Gandhi is the First and to date lady Prime Minister of India.
• She is the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of India from 24 January 1966 to 24 March 1977 (11 years 59 days) and 31 October 1984 to 2 December 1989 (5 years 32 days). A total of 15 Years and 350 Days in service.
• Indira Gandhi is known as a central figure of the Indian National Congress.
• Indira Gandhi was the only child of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
• She was killed by her own bodyguards in 1984. Her bodyguards had fired 31 bullets at her, of which 30 had hit; 23 had passed through her body while 7 were trapped inside her.

4. Morarji Desai

Morarji Ranchhodji Desai was born on 29 February 1896 and died at the age of 99 on 10 April 1995.
Interesting Facts

• Morarji Desai was the oldest person to have become Prime Minister at the age of 84 and the first to resign from office.
• He became the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India.
• Morarji Desai helped restore friendly relations with China and Pakistan and vowed to avoid armed conflict such as the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. He was honored with the highest civilian award of Pakistan, the Nishan-e-Pakistan on 19 May 1990.
• Mr. Desai is the second Deputy Prime Minister of India.
• Morarji Desai received India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna Award.

5. Charan Singh

Chaudhary Charan Singh was born on 23 December 1902 and died on 29 May 1987.
Interesting Facts

• Charan Singh was the fifth Prime Minister of India and was the only Prime Minister who did not face the Parliament.
•  He was the first Parliamentary Secretary back then
• Charan Singh was the first non-Congress chief minister of Uttar Pradesh
• In 1975, he was jailed by then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
• Charan Singh was the Prime Minister of India for 170 days.

6. Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was born on 20 August 1944 and died on 21 May 1991. He was an Indian politician who served as the 6th Prime Minister of India.
Interesting Facts

• Rajiv Gandhi husband of Smt. Sonia Gandhi is the youngest person to become the Prime Minister of India at the age of 40 years.
• He was appointed as the Prime Minister of India on 31 October 1984 in the evening after his mother Indira Gandhi assassination on that day.
• Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber who was a 17-Year-old teenager.
• He was employed as a pilot by Air India in 1970.
• Mr. Gandhi was only three years old when India became independent and his grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India.
• Rajiv Gandhi met Edvige Antonio Albina Màino in London and married her in 1968 and renamed her Sonia Gandhi.

7. Vishwanath Pratap Singh

Vishwanath Pratap Singh was born on 25 June 1931 and died on 27 November 2008. He was an Indian politician who was the 7th Prime Minister of India from 2 December 1989 to 10 November 1990.
Interesting Facts

• Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the first Prime Minister to step down after a vote of no confidence.
• V.P. Singh was the prime ministerial candidate for the National Front in the 1991 elections but was defeated.
• V.P. Singh was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 1998.
• Mr. Singh was elected as the vice president of the Allahabad University student union.
• He was the President of the Janata Dal on 11 October 1988.

8. Chandra Shekhar

Chandra Shekhar was born on 17 April 1927 and died on 8 July 2007. He was an Indian politician who served as the eighth Prime Minister of India.
Interesting Facts

• Chandra Shekhar is the first Indian Prime Minister who has never held any Government office.
• His Government was formed with the fewest party MPs in the Lok Sabha.
• Chandra Shekhar’s Government could not pass the budget.
• Mr. Shekhar was known as a firebrand in student politics.
• Chandra Shekhar is also known as “Young Turk“.
• He officially resigned as Prime Minister on 13 March 1991, but he and his ministers continued in office until P.V. Rao succeeded him.

9. P. V. Narasimha Rao

P. V. Narasimha Rao is the 9th Prime Minister of India and the first PM who was from South India. His full name is Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao and was born on 28 June 1921 and died on 23 December 2004
Interesting Facts

• Mr. Rao was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister of India for five continuous years.
• He was the first to hail from the state of Andhra Pradesh, and also the first from southern India.
• P. V. Narasimha Rao was a lawyer and could speak 17 languages.
• Mr. Rao was a versatile thinker with an interest in a variety of subjects such as literature and computer software (including computer programming).
• Mr. Rao was an active freedom fighter during the Indian Independence movement.
• P. V. Narasimha Rao is also known as the Father of Economic Reforms in India.

10. Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born on Christmas Day 25 December 1924 and died on 16 August 2018. Mr. Vajpayee served three terms as the Prime Minister of India.

• 1st: 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996
• 2nd: 19 March 1998 – 10 October 1999
• 3rd: 10 October 1999 – 22 May 2004

Interesting Facts

• Mr. Vajpayee served as the first Indian Prime Minister not of the Indian National Congress party to have served a full five-year term in office.
• As a foreign minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first person in 1977 to deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in the Indian language Hindi.
• He received India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna Award in 2015.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999.
• Mr. Vajpayee was the first President of the BJP which was formed from BJS in 1980. For this reason, BJP Government is also often called as Vajpayee Government.
• Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the only Prime Minister who held office for the shortest tenure of 16 days from 16 May 1996 to 1 June 1996. (Resigned)
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the third Prime Minister to step down after a vote of no confidence or vote of confidence motion in the Lok Sabha by a single vote on 17 April 1999.
• He is also the first non-congress Prime Minister who completed a full term as Prime Minister of India from 19 March 1998 to 22 May 2004, 6 years 64 days.

11. H. D. Deve Gowda

Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda was born on 18 May 1933. He is an Indian politician who was the 11th Prime Minister of India from 1 June 1996 to 21 April 1997.
Interesting Facts

• H. D. Deve Gowda is the second Prime Minister to step down after a vote of no confidence.
• Before Mr. Gowda became Prime Minister he was the 14th Chief Minister of Karnataka.
• He served as the Prime Minister for 324 days, 41 days less than a year.
• H. D. Deve Gowda was unexpectedly chosen to head the government and became the 11th Prime Minister of India.
• Mr. Gowda was the Chairman of the Steering Committee of the United Front.

12. Inder Kumar Gujral

Indra Kumar Gujral was born on 4 December 1919 and died on 30 November 2012. He was an Indian politician who served as the 12th Prime Minister of India from April 1997 to March 1998.
Interesting Facts

• Inder Kumar Gujral joined the Indian National Congress party in 1964 and became the Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha later.
• Mr. Gujral was the third Prime Minister to be from the Rajya Sabha, the first being Indira Gandhi.
• Mr. Gujral was influenced by nationalistic ideas as a student and joined the Communist Party of India and the All India Students Federation.
• He was in service for 332 days from 21 April 1997 to 19 March 1998, 33 days less than a year.
• Gujral died at the age of 92 due to a lung infection.

13. Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh was born on 26 September 1932. Mr. Singh is an Indian economist, academic, and politician who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014.
Interesting Facts

• Manmohan Singh is the first Sikh Prime Minister of India.
• Manmohan Singh was the first Prime Minister to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Mr. Singh lost his mother at a very young age, he was then raised by his grandmother.
• Mr. Manmohan Singh Quit his Job at United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to join the Delhi School of Economics as a Professor.
• Dr. Singh can’t read Hindi, All his Hindi speeches are written in Urdu.
• Dr. Singh is the Most Qualified Prime Minister in India as well as the Whole World.
• He has 14 Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Litterature and was the man behind leading India successfully out of the Severe Economic Crisis in 1991.

14. Narendra Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on 17 September 1950. He is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014.
Interesting Facts

• Mr. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.
• Narendra Modi is the first prime minister outside of the Indian National Congress to win two consecutive terms with a full majority.
• Mr. Modi is the first Prime Minister to have been born after India’s independence from the British Raj.
• Narendra Modi’s first job at the RSS was to mop the floor at the RSS Headquarters in Ahmedabad.
• Mr. Modi is also Popular on Social media, he has 67M followers on Instagram and 78M followers on Twitter.
• Narendra Modi was never an MLA nor Contested in elections before he became Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002.
• he is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel and Mongolia and the first Indian Prime Minister to address the Australian and Nepal Parliament.

Do You Know?

• Out of the 14 Prime Ministers, 6 Prime Minister Resigned their Term of Office:
  • Morarji Desai- 28 July 1979
  • Charan Singh- 14 January 1980
  • Vishwanath Pratap Singh- 10 November 1990
  • Chandra Shekhar- 21 June 1991
  • Atal Bihari Vajpayee- 1 June 1996
  • H. D. Deve Gowda- 21 April 1997
• Out of the 14 Prime Ministers, 2 Prime Minister were assassinated:
  • Indira Gandhi- 31 October 1984
  • Rajiv Gandhi- 21 May 1991
• Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is the longest-serving Prime Minister of India.
• Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Most Qualified Prime Minister in the whole world.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the only Prime Minister who had held office for the shortest tenure of 16 days.

Note

Gulzarilal Nanda

The First acting Prime Minister of India is Gulzarilal Nanda, born on 4 July 1898 and died on 15 January 1998. His first service was from 27 May 1964 to 9 Jun 1964 and the second service was from 11 January 1966 to 24 January 1966 for 13 days each.
Interesting Facts

• Gulzarilal Nanda is not counted as the second and fourth Prime Minister of India because of this Acting Prime Minister position.
• He was first elected as the acting Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru’s death and second Prime Minister after Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death
• Mr. Nanda was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 1997.
• Gulzarilal Nanda died on 15 January 1998 at the age of 99.
• He was the last living state leader to have been born in the 19th century.