Current affairs

From PM Narendra Modi to Taliban leader Baradar: Here are the world's 100 most influential people!

By alagu, 16 September, 2021
Narendra Modi, Mamata Banerjee, Joe Biden, TIME

Global reputed TIME Magazine has released the list of the world's 100 most influential people on Wednesday. The title has been decorated by global leaders, icons, pioneers, and innovators. The list has orbited around the globe and picked up the people who are leading in crucial aspects and people who are inspiring the next generations. Each one carries a review written by a prominent figure that closely watched them and that the list is made up of the famous and notorious faces. 

TIME Magazine has named Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and CEO of Serum Institute of India Adar Poonawalla as among the world's 100 most influential people of 2021. These three are the only Indian faces that made to the club of 100 most influential people and TIME has also named Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar as one among the club. However, it would be for the first time that some of the global faces including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pope Francis, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel didn't win the place in the current edition of the most influential people.

TIME's profile of Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that in its 74 years as an independent nation, India has had three pivotal leaders- Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Modi. TIME has noted that Narendra Modi is the third, dominating the country's politics like no one since them." CNN Journalist Fareed Zakaria has written the profile of Narendra Modi in which the former said, "Despite the mishandling Covid-19 - death toll has been estimated to be much higher than the official count - his approval rating has slipped to a still sky-high 71%." 

Zakaria said, "When he (Modi) was elected, many believed that Modi would finally move India off its socialist past and into a capitalist future. He's done some of that but more determinedly, he has pushed the country away from secularism and toward Hindu nationalism. In addition to eroding the rights of India's Muslim minority, Modi's government has imprisoned and intimidated journalists who shine a light on its abuses and has passed laws crippling India's thousands of NGOs and advocacy groups." 

Writing profile for Mamata Banerjee, who made it to the club for the first time being a head of the state government, Indian journalist Barkha Dutt said, "Mamata Banerjee, in her signature white sari paired with rubber flip-flops, has become the face of fierceness in Indian politics. On May 2, she stood like a fortress against the expansionist ambition of Narendra Modi, a seemingly invincible Prime Minister, when she retained her role of Chief Minister of West Bengal in the state's assembly elections, despite the money and men of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party."

"Unlike many other women in Indian politics, Mamata has never been framed as someone's wife, mother, daughter, or partner. She rose from abject poverty- working once as a stenographer and a milk-booth vendor to support her family", her profile added. TIME profile describes Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar as a quiet, secretive man who rarely gives public statements or interviews. His profile, written by Pakistan journalist Ahmed Rashid, says, "Baradar nonetheless represents a more moderate current within the Taliban, the one that will be thrust into the limelight to win Western support and desperately needed financial aid." 

"The question is whether the man who coaxed the Americans out of Afghanistan can sway his own movement", Baradar's profile added. Some of the notable global faces who are among the 100 most influential people include US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Prince Harry and Meghan, Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Apple CEO Tim Cook, US Vice President Kamala Harris, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, former US President Donald Trump, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, US Politicians Joe Manchin, Stacey Abrams, Liz Cheney, US Media Host Tucker Carlson, Tesla's Elon Musk, and General Motors CEO Mary Barra. 

 

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