The latest Youth Survey by HT and MaRS is a big win for India’s Test cricket captain Virat Kohli, who emerged the biggest sports icon in the world with 42.8% of the overall votes. He is way ahead of second-placed Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was favoured by only 9.7% of the voters, and Roger Federer, who finished third with 8.5% votes.
However, in an even bigger win, Kohli was favoured by the largest percentage of voters – 26.4% – as the best living role model for young people all over the world. That put him ahead of outgoing United States president Barack Obama, who received 24% votes, and India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who was chosen by 18.7% of the voters.
Modi, though, is the biggest icon in Indian politics, with nearly half the voters favouring him. That puts him way ahead of second-placed Arvind Kejriwal, who received 14% of the votes, and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who got 8%. Rahul Gandhi, Congress vice-president, was favoured by only 2.7% voters.
Actor Ranbir Kapoor may not have had the best time at the box office of late until Ae Dil Hai Mushkil became a hit. However, in this survey, he has emerged the runaway winner of the sexiest-man-alive poll, with 31.4% of the respondents rooting for him.
{{/usCountry}}Actor Ranbir Kapoor may not have had the best time at the box office of late until Ae Dil Hai Mushkil became a hit. However, in this survey, he has emerged the runaway winner of the sexiest-man-alive poll, with 31.4% of the respondents rooting for him.
{{/usCountry}}The sexiest-woman-alive crown goes to actress Deepika Padukone with 29.1% of the overall votes, but it is a close call between her and Katrina Kaif when you look at the breakup of male and female votes. More men – 26.6% – voted for Kaif than for Padukone, who received 26.4% of the male votes. However, more women – 32% – voted for Padukone than did for Kaif, who received only 22.9% of the female votes.
Corruption, the country’s old bug bear, is still seen as the biggest challenge facing the country – 34.2% of the respondents chose it. Terrorism was seen as the second biggest, getting 23.6% votes. But more voters – 36.9% – chose terrorism as the biggest challenge facing the world, with corruption getting only 8.1% of the votes.
Read more stories from HT MaRS Youth Survey here.
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