India announces state funeral for Manmohan

NEW DELHI:

India announced seven days of state mourning on Friday after the death of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, one of the architects of the country's economic liberalisation in the early 1990s.

Singh, who held office from 2004 to 2014, died at the age of 92 late on Thursday evening at a hospital in New Delhi. He will also be accorded a state funeral.

"As a mark of respect for the departed dignitary, it has been decided that seven days of state mourning will be observed throughout India," the Indian government said in a statement on Friday, with mourning running until January 1.

"It has also been decided that the state funeral will be accorded to late Dr. Manmohan Singh," it said, with the national flag fluttering at half-mast on official buildings across the country.

India's main opposition Congress said that the former premier's body would be taken to the party's headquarters in New Delhi for an hour on Saturday morning.

The "public and Congress workers will have the opportunity to offer their tributes," Congress said in a statement on Friday. The body will then be transferred to the cremation ground from there.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India "mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders", while newspapers hailed his legacy.

"Man who liberated India's dreams," The Times of India front page read.

"He opened India to the world," The Indian Express headline ran.

Singh was taken to a hospital in New Delhi after he lost consciousness at his home on Thursday, but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at 9:51 pm local time, according to a statement by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences