The TIME magazine’s list of 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.
PM Modi has been kept under the ‘Leaders’ along with US President Donald Trump, US attorney general William Barr, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, US NIAID chief Anthony Fauci and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The Indian Prime Minister, who turned 70 a few days ago, had also made it to the TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people’s list earlier as well.
Bilkis was an unlikely face among the names who made it to the 100 most influential people’s list. She was among the leading figures who led peaceful protests in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area against the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA last year. The 82-year-old was known for sitting at the protest site from early morning till midnight almost everyday for three months until the protests were disbanded due to Covid-19.
Actor Ayushmann Khurana was the only actor from India who made it to the list. Khurrana is the youngest Indian to be featured in this year’s TIME Magazine, according to news agency PTI. Khurrana told PTI that he has used his acting to bring a positive change to the world. Deepika Padukone wrote an essay to introduce Khurrana to TIME magazine’s readers. He has acted in award-winning movies like “Vicky Donor”, “Shubh Mangal Saavdhan”, “Badhaai Ho”, and “Article 15.”
{{/usCountry}}Actor Ayushmann Khurana was the only actor from India who made it to the list. Khurrana is the youngest Indian to be featured in this year’s TIME Magazine, according to news agency PTI. Khurrana told PTI that he has used his acting to bring a positive change to the world. Deepika Padukone wrote an essay to introduce Khurrana to TIME magazine’s readers. He has acted in award-winning movies like “Vicky Donor”, “Shubh Mangal Saavdhan”, “Badhaai Ho”, and “Article 15.”
{{/usCountry}}The others to bring laurels to the Indian community by being included in the coveted list include Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google’s parent Alphabet and clinical microbiology professor Ravindra Gupta.
Gupta, who is a professor of clinical microbiology at the Cambridge University, has been featured by the TIME magazine under the ‘Pioneers’ category. A doctor of Indian origin, Gupta achieved the feat of curing the London Patient Eric Castellijo of human-immunodeficiency virus or the 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 his enthusiasm to find a feasible cure for everyone. He has championed me and empowered me to become an ambassador of hope to millions of people living with HIV around the world.” Castellijo also narrated how Gupta’s compassion moved him and also brought him respect among colleagues in the HIV research community.
Pichai was put into the category of ‘Titans’ along with Miami Heat forward Dwayne Wade, actress Gabrielle Union and Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton among others. Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said Pichai embodies the real American dream as he emigrated from India as an adult and worked his way up to become the CEO of Alphabet. He said, “(Sundar) represents the best of what we aspire for our society. He used his natural gifts and strong work ethic to rise through the ranks of Google (now Alphabet) by leading many of their most successful products…”