Indian leading stars go global into Time Magazine

Three leading Indians Congress president Sonia Gandhi, top business tycoon Ratan Tata, and chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Indra Nooyi from different arena are among the 100 most influential people in the world for the year 2008 that marked a place in the prestigious Times Magazine released on Thursday.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and Chinese President Hu Jintao are the other Asians who are also listed in the Magazine.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has found a place along with some prominent leaders like Dalai Lama, Russian president Vladimir Putin, US President George W. Bush as well as his three would-be successors Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain.

The world’s ‘most influential person of the year 2008’ in the fifth annual list of the Magazine has been divided into five categories — leaders and revolutionaries, heroes and pioneers, scientists and thinkers, artistes and entertainers and builders and titans — who are hailed to have made a profound impact on the world.

Sonia Gandhi is the only Indian politician, who has been listed in the category of leaders and revolutionaries. Earlier she figured on the Time list in 2007 and also was honoured with finding a place in the Forbes list of 100 most powerful women last year.

The most influential corporate people, named under the category of "builders and titans" comprises beverage giant PepsiCo’s Indian-origin chief Indra Nooyi, along with Ratan Tata for unveiling his tiny Rs. one lakh car ‘Nano’. Others in this category include global media conglomerate News Corporation’s Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Mexican billionaire telecom tycoon Carlos Slim.

Brad Pitt and his wife Angelina Jolie, most popular TV show host Oprah Winfrey, tennis player Andre Agassi, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Burmese democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi are categorised under “heroes and pioneers.”

New York mayor and Bloomberg owner Michael Bloomberg, and Nasa’s Michael Griffin has been named under the "scientists and thinkers" category.

The "leaders and revolutionaries" category also includes Chinese President Hu Jintao, US central bank chief Ben Bernanke, US defence secretary Robert Gates, Iraqi leader Muqtada al-Sadr, Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim, Pakistan Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, and Baitullah Mehsud, who according to the magazine were the mastermind behind Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

Pop diva Mariah Carey, actor George Clooney and author Khaled Hosseini are among those listed in the "artists and entertainers" category.