- Wednesday, May 01, 2024
Those who made it to the prestigious list include World Bank chief Ajay Banga, Indian actor Alia Bhatt, professor Priyamvada Natarajan, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and India’s Olympic medal-winning wrestler Sakshi Malik, among others.
By: Shubham Ghosh
WORLD BANK president Ajay Banga, Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Olympian wrestler Sakshi Malik and actor-director Dev Patel are among the Indians who have made it to the prestigious Times’s list of 100 most influential people in the world released on Wednesday (17).
Among other people of Indian-origin who were included Time’s ‘100 Most Influential People of 2024′ are US energy department’s Loan Programmes Office director Jigar Shah; professor of astronomy and professor of physics at Yale University Priyamvada Natarajan; and Indian-origin restaurateur Asma Khan.
Time’s profile of the former Mastercard CEO, written by US treasury secretary Janet Yellen, said, “It’s not easy to find a leader with the skill and drive to take on the monumental task of transforming an essential institution, but since becoming World Bank president last June, Ajay Banga has done just that.”
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She said Banga, who was born in the Indian city of Pune, comes to the World Bank after leading a global organisation through which he brought millions of unbanked people into the digital economy. At the World Bank, he set forth a new vision to create a world free of poverty on a livable planet and moved boldly to make good on it — from pioneering innovative financial tools to reimagining partnerships across the multilateral development banks and with the private sector.
“His sharp wit consistently enables him to cut through the noise. With unprecedented challenges such as climate change threatening our collective future, I cannot imagine a better partner with whom to take decisive action on behalf of people around the world,” Yellen said.
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Describing Bhatt as a “formidable talent”, director, producer and writer Tom Harper said in the Time profile that she is “not only one of the world’s leading actors, admired for her work in the Indian film industry for over a decade — she is also a businesswoman and a philanthropist who leads with integrity”.
“Alia’s superpower is her ability to mix movie-star magnetism with authenticity and sensitivity. As an actor she is luminous, and as a person she brings the grounded assurance and creativity that make a truly international star,” Harper, who directed Bhatt in his movie ‘Heart of Stone’ said.
On Hyderabad-born Nadella, Time said he is “profoundly influential in shaping our future. And that’s a good thing for humanity”. “Microsoft’s significant investment in OpenAI and partnership with Mistral AI puts him at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution.
A technologist with heart, Satya sees AI as a tool that will empower humans. Still, there’s rightful concern about unintended consequences and misuse. That’s why it’s so reassuring that Satya is one of AI’s stewards. His thoughtfulness and humility should make us safer,” it said.
On Malik, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Nisha Pahuja writes that she was among India’s “most celebrated wrestlers” who had gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in early 2023 to demand the immediate arrest and resignation of chief of the Wrestling Federation of India Brij Bhushan Singh, accused of sexually harassing female athletes.
“What began as a small, targeted protest to demand decisive government action in favour of the wrestlers ballooned instead into a yearlong battle unprecedented in Indian sport, drawing support from across the country and attention from across the world,” Pahuja writes in her profile of Malik, who hails from the northern Indian city of Kanpur, for Time.
“This fight is no longer only for India’s female wrestlers,” she said, of the movement Malik helped spark, “it is for the daughters of India whose voices have been silenced time and again”.
“Shortly after Singh’s successor, a close ally and business partner, was elected to oversee the Wrestling Federation of India, Sakshi Malik — in an emotional, public, and very brave act of defiance — quit the sport. She did not, however, quit the battle. Her light, and the light of all those standing against harassment, continues to shine,” Pahuja said.
On Patel, the Time profile by Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya said that he “radiates goodness. His humanity shines through every time he graces the screen, leaving you no choice but to root for him even when his character is doing something foul; his presence makes you understand where he’s coming from”.
Patel, who was born in the UK to Gujarati parents from India, made his directorial debut recently with ‘Monkey Man’.
“Dev sets the pace. He’s limitless. He’s fearless. Our responsibility as a generation is to go into familiar spaces and see them through new perspectives, thus creating, finding, and sharing a space that has never been touched before. He has that gift. He continues to surpass himself and surprise us, and we are all waiting for where he’ll take us next,” it said.
Shep Doeleman, an astrophysicist and the founding director of the Event Horizon Telescope, wrote in the profile for Natarajan, who was born in Coimbatore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, that a novel approach developed years ago by her “brought us closer to understanding a basic mystery in astronomy: How do the supermassive black holes that lurk at the centres of most galaxies form?”
“Priya has a knack for pursuing the most creative research, and as a fellow astronomer, I’am always inspired by her work. Her latest result takes us one step closer to understanding our cosmic beginnings,” Doeleman said.
About Shah who was born in Modasa in India’s Gujarat, British business magnate Richard Branson said the former “leads one of the largest economic-development programs the world has ever seen”, Moneycontrol reported. Shah moved to the US when he was just a year old.
Khan, who was born in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, is the mind behind acclaimed London restaurant Darjeeling Express, which is known for its all-women kitchen. “Asma’s food is surprising. It doesn’t taste like restaurant food—and that is the highest compliment,” Padma Lakshmi wrote for Time.
(With PTI inputs)
