V P Singh Vishwanath Pratap Singh Minister of

V. P. Singh (Vishwanath Pratap Singh) § Minister of commerce in 1976– 77 §Rajiv Gandhi, appointed Singh minister of finance § 1987, resigned from cabinet after his investigations of arms-procurement fraud were squelched §Singh was the principal founder in 1988 of the Janata Dal (JD), a merger of three small centrist opposition parties. § assembling a larger nationwide opposition coalition called the National Front (NF), which contested the general parliamentary elections of November 1989. §. He was sworn in as India’s prime minister on December 2, 1989 §coalition was soon riven by disputes having to do with religious and caste issues §Singh resigned on November 7, 1990, after receiving a vote of no confidence in the Lok Sabha Mandal Commission §implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the disadvantaged so-called Other Backward Classes.

• Mandal Commission, or the Second Backward Classes Commission , was established in India on 1 January 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai • to "identify the socially or educationally backward classes" of India. • It was headed by B. P. Mandal an Indian parliamentarian from Bihar, to consider the question of reservations for people to redress caste discrimination • In 1980, the Commission's report upheld the affirmative action practice under Indian law by recommending that members of Other Backward Classes (OBC) be granted reservations to 27 per cent of jobs under the Central government and public sector undertakings. • The Report came into 1990 august under V. P. singh