TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people for the year 2020 includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, actor Ayushman Khurrana and Bilkis, who emerged as the face of the Shaheen Bagh protests.
Prime Minister Modi has remained under the ‘leaders’ alongside US President Donald Trump, US Attorney General William Barr, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, the head of the US NIAID , Anthony Fauci, and the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden. The Indian prime minister, who turned 70 a few days ago, had also made TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people list earlier.
Bilkis was an unlikely face among the names that made the top 100 most influential people list. She was among the leading figures who led peaceful protests in the Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi against the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA last year. The 82-year-old man was known to sit at the protest site from morning to midnight almost every day for three months until the protests broke up due to Covid-19.
Actor Ayushmann Khurana was the only actor from India to make the list. Khurrana is the youngest Indian to appear in TIME magazine this year, according to the PTI news agency. Khurrana told PTI that he has used his performance to bring positive change to the world. Deepika Padukone wrote an essay to introduce Khurrana to TIME magazine readers. He has acted in award-winning films such as “Vicky Donor”, “Shubh Mangal Saavdhan”, “Badhaai Ho” and “Article 15”.
Others who have earned the Indian community laurels by being included on the coveted list include Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and professor of clinical microbiology, Ravindra Gupta.
Gupta, who is Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Cambridge University, has been featured in TIME magazine in the ‘Pioneers’ category. A doctor of Indian origin, Gupta achieved the feat of curing the London patient Eric Castellijo of the human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. Castellijo, who is the second person to be functionally cured of HIV, wrote of Dr. Gupta in the introduction: “Gupta has shared his knowledge and enthusiasm for finding a viable cure for everyone. He has stood up for me and empowered me to become an ambassador of hope for millions of people living with HIV around the world. ” Castellijo also recounted how Gupta’s compassion touched him and also brought him respect among his colleagues in the HIV research community.
Pichai was inducted into the ‘Titans’ category along with Miami Heat forward Dwayne Wade, actress Gabrielle Union and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, among others. Jamie Dimon, president and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said Pichai embodied the true American dream when he emigrated from India as an adult and worked his way up to becoming CEO of Alphabet. He said: “(Sundar) represents the best of what we aspire to for our society. He used his natural gifts and strong work ethic to rise through the ranks of Google (now Alphabet) leading many of their most successful products … “
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