THE LEGEND PRIME MINISTER MR.NARENDRA MODI

Narendra Damodardas Modi is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. He was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, and is the Member of Parliament for Varanasi.

Born: 17 September 1950 (age 68 years), Vadnagar

Full name: Narendra Damodardas Modi

Height: 1.7 m

Spouse: Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi (m. 1968)

Education: Gujarat University (1983), University of Delhi (1978), School of Open Learning, University of Delhi

Parents: Heeraben Modi, Damodardas Mulchand Modi

Born to a Gujarati family in Vadnagar, Modi helped his father sell tea as a child and later ran his own stall. He was introduced to the RSS at the age of eight, beginning a long association with the organisation. He left home after graduating from school, partly because of an arranged  marriage which he rejected. Modi travelled around India for two years and visited a number of religious centres before returning to Gujarat and moving to Ahmedabad. In 1971 he became a full-time worker for the RSS. During the state of emergency imposed across the country in 1975, Modi was forced to go into hiding. The RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985, and he held several positions within the party hierarchy until 2001, rising to the rank of General Secretary.

Modi was appointed Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, due to Keshubhai Patel's failing health and poor public image following the earthquake in Bhuj. Modi was elected to the legislative assembly soon after. His administration has been considered complicit in the2002 Gujarat riots, or otherwise criticised for its handling of it. A Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team found no evidence to initiate prosecution proceedings against Modi personally. His policies as chief minister, credited with encouraging economic growth, have received praise. His administration has been criticised for failing to significantly improve health, poverty, and education indices in the state.

Modi led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which gave the party a majority in the Lok Sabha, the first time a single party had achieved this since 1984. Modi's administration has tried to raise foreign direct investment in the Indian economy and reduced spending on healthcare and social welfare programmes. Modi has attempted to improve efficiency in the bureaucracy, and centralised power by abolishing the planning commission and replacing it with the NITI Aayog. He has begun a high-profile sanitation campaign, weakened or abolished environmental and labour laws, and initiated a controversial demonetisation of high-denomination banknotes. Credited with engineering a political realignment towards right-wing politics, Modi remains a figure of controversy domestically and internationally over his Hindu nationalist beliefs and his role during the 2002 Gujarat riots, cited as evidence of anexclusionary social agenda.

State honours

Decoration		Country	Date	Note	Ref.
	Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud	Saudi Arabia	3 April 2016	Member Special Class, The highest civilian honour of Saudi Arabia	[323]
	State Order of Ghazi Amir Amanullah Khan	Afghanistan	4 June 2016	The highest civilian honour of Afghanistan	[324]
	Grand Collar of the State of Palestine	Palestine	10 February 2018	The highest honour granted to foreigners by Palestine	[325]
	Order of Zayed	United Arab Emirates	4 April 2019	The highest civil honour of the United Arab Emirates	[326]