Who is the finest Indian batsman of all time? Sunil Gavaskar or Sachin Tendulkar?
Who was a better prime minister? Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi or Atal Behari Vajpayee?
Fascinating questions, each igniting fierce debate.
Comparing stars across generations is tough, but what when you decide to choose between achievers in a calendar year? Frankly, it gets even tougher. Which is why the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 promises to be the contest to beat all contests. This is not reality television, this is the real thing: this is, arguably, the most solid recognition of individual achievement in the country.
The CNN-IBN award is not a celebrity circus, nor is it a popularity contest. It is not about "stardom" that is the mantra of page three India. The CNN-IBN Indian of the Year awards involve a rigorous and transparent process of selection, with checks and balances at every stage. SMS and Internet polling is an element, but it cannot hijack the process. Viewers are a part of the process, so is an electoral college of eminent Indians, drawn from diverse ideological moorings. And there is also a jury comprising individuals who have built a reputation for personal integrity.Yesterday CNN-IBN announced the results. So here are the winners and congratulations to all of them.
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 - Global Indian
Arun Sarin
For piloting more than 11 Billion U.S dollars foreign direct investment in India, one of the largest ever.
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 - Public Service
E Sreedharan, Chairman DMRC
For setting a rare work ethic and transforming the face of transportation by effective time-bound execution of the Metro Rail project.
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 - Sports
Vishwanathan Anand
For being one of the rare Indians to become the undisputed world champion in a sport and making chess a popular sport in India.
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 - Entertainment
Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni
For delivering the year’s Best Idea film, Chak De, and demonstrating how a simple idea can be made a runaway commercial success.
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 - Business
O. P. Bhatt
For showing how a public sector behemoth could flex enough muscle in the ferociously competitive banking sector.
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 - Politics
For engineering a spectacular growth rate and being an astute economic manager despite coalition pressures.
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2007 - Life Time Achievement of the year
R.K. Laxman, The Common man
RK Laxman is an Indian cartoonist, illustrator and humorist. He is widely regarded as India's greatest-ever cartoonist and is best known for his creation The Common Man.
According to Times of India:
Laxman is best known for his daily one panel comic "pocket cartoon" series You Said It, which features The Common Man, and chronicles the state of Indian life.
and finally
CNN-IBN INDIAN OF THE YEAR 2007
E SREEDHARAN, Chairman DMRC
The 76-year-old Sreedharan is the Managing Director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, its builder and executor. The Delhi Metro has proved to be a Godsend for the city as every morning, over six lakh Delhiites today use the network to commute to work.
Sreedharan faced numerous challenges. Bureaucratic red tape tried to delay his work. Contractors would not meet commitments. Corruption threatened to slow him down.
But the unassuming railway engineer never lost hope and never stopped believing in his project, which changed the face of urban transport in India.
With 56 kilometres of the network on track and only two more phases left to be completed, the $2 billion project is running ahead of time and strictly within budget.
In just two more years, the high-speed train will be accessible to every resident of Delhi.
Meet the man behind the METRO
Sreedharan reports for work on the dot at 8.45 every morning, 15 minutes before his staff. Disclaiming that he is workaholic, Sreedharan says he simply likes to get the job done, for the job at hand is not just his duty but also his dharma.
Although Sreedharan is hardly ever seen in public, rarely gives interviews or attends public functions, his honesty and integrity are legends.
The Konkan Railway project came to him after he had retired from the Railways. It was a daunting task - 760 km of rail tracks from Mumbai to Kochi through the rugged mountains of the Western Ghats.
Environmentalists had protested and politicians said it could never be done. The project ran short of money.
But in an unprecedented initiative, Sreedharan raised public bonds to finance it and today, the Konkan Railway chugs merrily down the coastline.
Sreedharan was also one of Time magazine's Asian heroes, but to CNN-IBN, and perhaps the rest of India, he is much more - one of modern India's greatest sons, one who is not just a dreamer but a builder and one who has dedicated his achievements to every Indian.
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