Mukesh Ambani
Jio-graphic Buccaneer
The soft-spoken hardball player and chairman of Reliance Industries, whose imagination spurs his ambition, topped the Forbes list of richest Indians for the ninth consecutive year. His teletalk coup was the launch of Jio, the revolutionary mobile service provider offering free data service and calls.
It has crossed the 50 million subscriber-mark in less than three months after its full-fledged 4G offer, thereby emerging as India’s largest broadband operator. It acquired 1,000 customers per minute (since September 5) and six lakh per day.
Ambani took his plan to push Jio up a notch by announcing free voice, data and video for new and existing users till March 31, 2017. He claimed that the company has two lakh eKYC outlets, a sum almost equal to the total ATMs in India. He promises four lakh eKYC outlets by March 2017. Meanwhile, Reliance landed in a controversy for using Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture in its Jio advertisement without reportedly obtaining the PMO’s permission. No harm done.
Joined Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma and Bill Gates to set up a $1-bn clean energy fund
Ram Madhav
Mind Force in Action
The BJP’s national general secretary and intellectual face Ram Madhav has been in the thick of action this year. He spearheaded the expansion of the saffron party in the Northeast. He was the key trouble-shooter of the BJP-PDP alliance in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP’s maiden victory in the Assam Assembly elections proved to be the icing on the cake for his rise in the party.
Loaned from the RSS to the BJP, the phrase “jaw for tooth”, which he coined after the Uri attacks, defined the government’s stance on terror. Madhav has stated the surgical strikes forced Pakistan to the table. As the party’s Northeast in-charge, his accusations against Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh on the economic blockade by the United Naga Council put the state government on the backfoot. Conclaves and outreach programmes by the India Foundation have established the Andhra RSS worker as a thought force to reckon with in the ruling establishment.
Ajit Doval
Stirred Not Shaken
India’s reclusive National Security Adviser invited flak for deploying the National Security Guards for counter-terror operations at the IAF base at Pathankot during a terror attack on January 2.
Critics received a black eye after the NSG neutralised the attackers. The Super Spy—as he is known in national security circles—famous for his meticulous planning was also applauded for being the brain behind the surgical strikes in September. In December, he clandestinely met his Pakistani counterpart in Bangkok to restart peace talks between the two nations.
Akhilesh Yadav
Programme Developer
The family war within the Samajwadi Party ended with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s victory in the clan-led party. His opposition to uncle Shivpal Yadav promoting MLAs with criminal background by giving them party tickets earned him the reputation of UP’s Mr Clean.
However, Shivpal refuses to say ‘Uncle’, to protect his clout and long-time supporters. Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav is playing a balancing act between brother and son, but it’s clear that Akhilesh will come up trumps. He has set in motion several development and infrastructure initiatives to help his party return to power.
Priyanka Chopra
Hollywood High
The sultry actress is the first mainstream Indian star to headline an American television series after working in two seasons of the drama-thriller Quantico. She won the Favourite Actress in the New TV Series award at the 42nd People’s Choice Awards. The movie version of Baywatch, the eponymous bronze-bodies-on-the- beach American TV serial releases in 2017. She was renamed national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights. She was also appointed Assam’s tourism ambassador. Chopra made her Marathi singing debut with the promotional song, Baba, for hit film Ventilator. A T-shirt controversy over immigration became tricky, but the charming Chopra disarmed critics with an apology.
Star role in Baywatch movie, releasing in May 2017
Cyrus mistry
Sad Sack
Cyrus Mistry, a graduate from Imperial College, London, who until October 24—the day he was ousted as Tata Sons chairman—was considered a shy but pragmatic leader of an over $100 billion conglomerate, is now engaged in an ugly “war” with its patriarch.
The confrontation became ugly after Tatas filed a breach of confidentiality case against him. Experts believe that the 48-year-old sowed the seeds of his ouster when he agreed for changes in the company bylaws that paved the way for Tata Trust having a major say in corporate functioning.
With some of Tata’s core members accusing him of “poor performance”, Mistry has publically accused Ratan Tata of creating a proxy power centre, which made it difficult for him to take key decisions.
Virat Kohli
Heavy Hitter
At Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai—associated with some of the biggest names in Indian cricket such as Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar—India’s Test captain Virat Kohli scripted history, garnering a third double century in a single year. His career-best 236 and the last big score of 2016 formed the backbone of India’s series-clinching win against England. The national team under Kohli has not lost a single Test match of the 18 ones played so far. His social media following is formidable, with fans calling themselves ‘Viratians’.
Sakshi malik
Deadlock Dreamer
Behind every successful man, they say, there is a woman. In 2016, Sakshi Malik did her bit to disprove the cliche. This first Indian female wrestler to get a bronze medal at Rio Olympics said that behind her success was a woman.
“My mother has played a big role in my success. In spite of being a working woman, she took care of my diet and accompanied me to competitions,” she said.
After her bronze win, she told her mother that she dreamt of her grandmother instead of her wrestler grandfather the night before.
Her icon is Geeta Phogat—the female wrestler from Haryana who won a gold at the Delhi Commonwealth Games and is the subject of the hit film Dangal. Earlier she beat ‘Geeta didi’ in the Olympic trials in India.
P V Sindhu
Supreme Smasher
The shuttler smashed and aced her way to become one of the top newsmakers in the country after she won the silver at the Rio Olympics 2016 in the women’s singles category. After becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver at an Olympic event, Sindhu continued her good form by winning the China Open for the first time—the second Indian female badminton player after Saina Nehwal to grab the title. Google named her as the most searched sportsperson of the year.
Sunny leone
Porn Again Superstar
With two mega Khans—Aamir and Shah Rukh—standing up for her, Sunny was the sizzling new item girl of 2016. Her hot dance number, ‘Laila O Laila’, with SRK in Raees is topping charts. We will soon see her in Ajay Devgn’s Baadshaho and Arbaaz Khan’s Tera Intezaar.
The porn star took Bollywood by storm with Pooja Bhatt’s erotic thriller Jism 2 in 2012. In 2016, the Sikh Canadian born Karenjit Kaur Vohra was chosen as one of BBC’s 100 Women, which examines the role of women in the 21st century.
Paraolympics Team
Able in Disability
When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade is a motto worth living for. Not many make the metaphorical lemonade. In 2016, four Indians did. Just after most Indian Olympians drew a blank in Rio, with the notable exception of P V Sindhu and Sakshi Malik, India’s Paralympians—atheletes with physical disabilities—brought home two golds, a silver and a bronze.
No one knew who Mariyappan Thangavelu, Devendra Jhajharia, Deepa Malik and Varun Singh Bhati were before September.
Nineteen sportspersons—16 men and three women—participated at the 2016 Rio paralympic games in September. They dazzled with stories of tears and triumphs:
Thangavelu, a Tamil fruitseller’s son, won a gold for the high jump and rewarded his mother for enduring hardship while bringing him up. Jhajharia became the first Indian to win two golds in the men’s javelin throw finals.
Donald Trump
Tenacious Trumpeteer
It was the annus mirabilis for the real estate baron-turned-reality TV star Donald Trump, who scripted the biggest electoral upset of America to be elected as the President of the US. The Republican outsider ripped through the contrary predictions of political pundits, pollsters, journalists and donors. He faced rebellion from within his own party, with many major leaders refusing to endorse his bid for presidency. But he hung on.
Trump’s campaign flew in the face of all electoral conventions in Washington as he polarised voters through his politically incorrect statements on immigrants, women and the disabled, among others. Dismantling the legacy of President Barack Obama like Obamacare is one of his priorities.
Trump doesn’t have a single day’s experience of holding public office. However, he rode to the White House with the backing of voters from rural and semi-rural parts America which has the large concentration of whites. Only after he takes oath on January 20 and occupies the White House will the world know if his policies will reflect his pre-poll declarations. Trump’s worldwide business interests and the role his family plays in government are likely flash points in the US presidency.
Vladimir Putin
Tsar Forever
The influence of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin wields across half the globe. The Russian President has been testified by Forbes in its list of the World’s Most Powerful Men that placed the horse-riding, tiger-wrestling macho on the top for the fourth consecutive year. President for 16 years, Putin has shown willingness to run again in 2018. This could make him the longest-serving Russian President. The CIA released information that Russia influenced the American election to help Trump win. The pro-West tilt India has shown of late has provoked Russia to court Pakistan. This year, Russian forces held their first joint military exercise with the Pak Army.
Bob Dylan
Blower in the Wind
He dropped out of college in 1960 to write music. And poetry. Six decades later, he got the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016—the second American after Toni Morrison and the first musician ever to win the prize, causing outrage among traditional Nobelistas.
After the announcement in October, the freewheelin’ Dylan was in the wind. After weeks of knockin’ on his door, the Nobel Academy gave up. His silence was called “impolite and arrogant”. The poet musician finally agreed to accept the prize of prizes, but did not attend the award ceremony in Stockholm; versatile artist Patti Smith accepted the prize on his behalf. Dylan’s “speech of thanks” was read out by the US Ambassador to Sweden Azita Raji. Dylan, perhaps, was looking “beyond the horizon”.
Kamala Harris and Nikki Haley
Ladies Who Launch
Harris, 54, has been at the forefront of campaigns for justice, immigration reform, equal pay policies, affordable education and tackling climate change. She became the first African-American and Indian-American to become a senator from California. She is the only second person of colour to be elected to the Congress’ upper chamber—a milestone in racial relations. Born in a Sikh family, 44-year-old Nikki Haley is America’s youngest governor. She surprised Capitol Hill when President-elect Donald Trump invited her to be Ambassador to the UN, in spite of being a vocal critic of Trump during the campaign.
Emma Watson
Equal Partner
British gender activist and film star Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the Harry Potter films, introduced scholarships named after herself at the One Young World’s 2016 Summit in Ottawa. She gave away nine of them to feminist activists from across the globe. Watson admitted to experiencing a “baptism of fire” at her HeForShe speech at the UN, receiving a standing ovation immediately and scathing criticism a few days later. Watson launched the HeForShe gender equality solidarity movement in 2014. In her maiden speech at the event, she termed feminism as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities”. In January 2016, the Harry Potter star started the feminist Goodreads book club: Our Shared Shelf.
Paul Beatty
Racer Sharp
Paul Beatty is the first American writer to win the Man Booker Prize for his caustic satire on US racial politics. In the times of Trump, judges said the book placed him at the level of Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift. The 54-year-old New York-based writer won the prize for The Sellout, a laugh-out-loud novel. The Wall Street Journal called it a “swiftian satire of the highest order. Like someone shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre, Mr Beatty has whispered ‘Racism’ in a post-racial world”. Beatty features in the final list of speakers of the much-awaited literary event—Jaipur Literature Festival 2017.