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Question 68 of 78 · Union Executive: President, VP & PM
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The longest-serving Prime Minister of India was:

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Answer: Option A — Jawaharlal Nehru

Detailed Solution

Jawaharlal Nehru served as Prime Minister from 15 August 1947 until his death on 27 May 1964, a period of nearly 17 years. This is the longest continuous tenure of any Prime Minister of India.

Prime Ministers with long tenures:

  • Jawaharlal Nehru: about 16 years and 9 months.
  • Indira Gandhi: about 15 years and 11 months in total (1966 to 1977 and 1980 to 1984).
  • Narendra Modi: since May 2014, the longest-serving non-Congress Prime Minister.
  • Manmohan Singh: 10 years (2004 to 2014).

Nehru's achievements as Prime Minister:

  • He laid the foundations of parliamentary democracy and secularism.
  • He launched the Five Year Plans and set up the Planning Commission.
  • He established institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, AIIMS, the Atomic Energy Commission and many public sector industries, which he called the "temples of modern India".
  • He was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, along with Tito, Nasser, Sukarno and Nkrumah.
  • He promoted the Panchsheel principles with China in 1954.
  • He oversaw the reorganisation of states on a linguistic basis.

Setbacks:

The war with China in 1962 was a major setback for his policies.

Personal life:

  • He was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad.
  • His birthday is celebrated as Children's Day.
  • He was called "Chacha Nehru" by children.

Writings:

"The Discovery of India", "Glimpses of World History" and his autobiography, "Toward Freedom".

Honours:

He received the Bharat Ratna in 1955.

After his death:

Gulzarilal Nanda became acting Prime Minister, and Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded him.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Indira Gandhi had the second-longest tenure.
  • ✗Manmohan Singh served for ten years.
  • ✗Narendra Modi is the longest-serving non-Congress Prime Minister.

Quick tip

Remember: Longest-serving PM = Jawaharlal Nehru (1947 to 1964, nearly 17 years).

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Union Executive: President, VP & PM — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Union Executive: President, VP & PM, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers the Union Executive: the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, and the Attorney General. It includes their election or appointment, qualifications, powers, removal, and the relationship between the President and the Council of Ministers. Common questions cover the electoral college that elects the President, impeachment under Article 61, the President's ordinance-making power (Article 123) and pardoning power (Article 72), and the fact that the Vice-President is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Lists of past Presidents and Prime Ministers are also tested. Practise the Union Executive questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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