The Greatest Indian was a poll sponsored by Reliance Mobile and conducted by Outlook magazine, in partnership with CNN-IBN and The History Channel. The poll was conducted from June to August 2012, with the winner, B. R. Ambedkar, announced on 11 August. A program associated with the poll aired from 4 June until 15 August. [1]
Unlike other editions of Greatest Britons spin-offs, The Greatest Indian did not include people from all time periods of history. Two reasons were given for this choice. The first was that "the pre-independence history of India is dominated by Mahatma Gandhi and it is impossible for anyone to come close to the Father of the Nation when it comes to Leadership, Impact and Contribution. [...] The panel of experts felt that if Gandhi were to be included in the list, there would be no competition for title of The Greatest Indian". [2] Secondly, The Greatest Indian chose to focus on India as a modern nation: "India today is unrecognizable from the India that got independence in 1947. This nation has achieved this stature in the world thanks to contribution from millions of Indians. This is an effort to recognise one who has made the maximum contribution and impact in the surge of independent India". [2]
A list of 100 names was presented to and compiled by a 28-member jury composed of actors, writers, sportspersons, entrepreneurs, and men and women of distinction in their fields. [3] This jury included N. Ram (former Editor-In-Chief of The Hindu), Vinod Mehta (Editor-in-Chief of Outlook), Soli Sorabjee (Former Attorney General of India), Sharmila Tagore (Bollywood actress and former Chairperson of the Censor Board of India), Harsha Bhogle (sports), Chetan Bhagat (author), [4] Ramachandra Guha (historian), [3] Shashi Tharoor (politician and author), Nandan Nilekani, Rajkumar Hirani, Shabana Azmi and Arun Jaitley. [5] They finalized a list of the top 50 nominees, which was released to the public on 4 June 2012, by CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai. A three-way process was then used to assess a top ten, in which equal weight was given to the votes of the jury, an online poll, and a market survey conducted by the Nielsen Company. [3] 7,129,050 people participated in this phase of the online poll. [6] Public voting was conducted from 4 to 25 June, [1] with the final top ten were announced on 3 July. [7] A second round of voting followed, using the same method as the first, lasting from 1 July to 1 August. [1] Individuals were able to cast votes either by visiting www.thegreatestindian.in or by calling a unique number given to each of the nominees. [7] Nearly 20,000,000 people voted in this round of the survey. [8] The announcement of the winner was made on 11 August, [9] with a special finale, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan and featuring other Indian celebrities, airing on 14 and 15 August (Independence Day). [10]
The top 10 nominees have all received the Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the Republic of India.
Rank | Image | Name | State | Notability |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956) | Maharashtra | The father of the Constitution of India, social reformer and leader of the Dalits, [12] [13] [14] Ambedkar was the first Law Minister of India. [15] He was given the honorific title "Babasaheb" ("respected father"). Ambedkar predominantly campaigned against social discrimination against Dalits, Women, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes in the Hindu caste system. [16] He was associated with the Dalit Buddhist movement and accepted Buddhism as a religion along with his more than half a million followers on 14 October 1956. [17] Ambedkar revived Buddhism in India. [18] [19] | |
2 | A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015) | Tamil Nadu | Aerospace and defence scientist, Kalam was involved in the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle SLV III and was the architect of Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. He worked for Indian National Committee for Space Research, Indian Space Research Organisation, Defence Research and Development Laboratory and was appointed as the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, Secretary to Department of Defence Research and Development and Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation. [20] Later, he served as the eleventh President of India from 2002 until 2007. [21] | |
3 | Vallabhbhai Patel (1875–1950) | Gujarat | Widely known as the "Iron Man of India", [22] Patel was an independence activist and first Deputy Prime Minister of India (1947–50). Post independence, "Sardar" ("Leader") Patel worked with V. P. Menon towards dissolving 555 princely states into the Indian union. He is also remembered as the "patron saint of India's civil servants" for having established the modern All India Services system. 1947: Patel was featured on the cover of Time magazine. [23] [24] [25] | |
4 | Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) | Uttar Pradesh | Independence activist and author, Pandit Nehru is the first and the longest-serving Prime Minister of India (1947–64). Nehru himself was Prime Minister of India at the time of receiving Bharat Ratna award. [26] [27] Nehru is popularly called 'Chacha Nehru'. Nehru's birthday is celebrated as Children's Day | |
5 | Mother Teresa (1910–1997) | West Bengal (Born in Skopje, Ottoman Empire, now North Macedonia) | "Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta" was a Catholic nun and the founder of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, which manages homes for people who are dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work in 1979 and was beatified on 19 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II and canonised on 4 September 2016 by Pope Francis. [28] | |
6 | J. R. D. Tata (1904–1993) | Maharashtra | Industrialist, philanthropist, and aviation pioneer, Tata founded India's first airline, Air India. He is the founder of various institutes, including Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Memorial Hospital, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Motors, TCS, National Institute of Advanced Studies, and National Centre for the Performing Arts. [29] [30] | |
7 | Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) | Uttar Pradesh | Known as the "Iron Lady of India", [31] Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India during 1966–77 and 1980–84. [26] During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, her government supported Bangladesh Liberation War which led to the formation of a new country, Bangladesh. [32] She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. | |
8 | Sachin Tendulkar (b. 1973) | Maharashtra | Having debuted in 1989, Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in a career spanning over two decades. He holds various cricket records including the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the first batsman to score a double century in a One Day International and the only player to complete more than 34,000 runs in both ODI and Test cricket. [33] [34] | |
9 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) | Madhya Pradesh | Parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected nine times to the Lok Sabha, twice to the Rajya Sabha and served as the Prime Minister of India for three terms; 1996, 1998, 1999–2004. He was also a renowned poet and writer. During his tenure as prime minister, India carried out the successful Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998. [26] He was Minister of External Affairs during 1977–79 and was awarded the "Best Parliamentarian" in 1994. [35] | |
10 | Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2022) | Maharashtra | Widely credited as the "nightingale of India", [36] playback singer Mangeshkar started her career in the 1940s and had sung songs in over 36 languages. [37] In 1989, Mangeshkar was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema. [38] |
Of 50 nominees, 15 have received the Bharat Ratna and 6 are women. The oldest living nominees at the time of the poll were B. K. S. Iyengar (93) Ravi Shankar (92), Verghese Kurien (90), R. K. Laxman (90), Dilip Kumar (89), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (87) and M. S. Swaminathan (87), while Sachin Tendulkar (39) was the youngest. [39]
Babasaheb Ambedkar was generally approved of as the greatest Indian, with several prominent scholars writing articles congratulating him, including Ramachandra Guha [3] and S. Anand. [40]
Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, statesman, secular humanist, social democrat, and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years. Nehru promoted parliamentary democracy, secularism, and science and technology during the 1950s, powerfully influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he steered India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A well-regarded author, his books written in prison, such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter (1929), An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946), have been read around the world.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā, first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used throughout the world.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru, and inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement after renouncing Hinduism.
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari BR, popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji, was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activist. Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India, as when India became a republic in 1950 the office was abolished. He was also the only Indian-born Governor-General, as all previous holders of the post were British nationals. He also served as leader of the Indian National Congress, Premier of the Madras Presidency, Governor of West Bengal, Minister for Home Affairs of the Indian Union and Chief Minister of Madras state. Rajagopalachari founded the Swatantra Party and was one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. He vehemently opposed the use of nuclear weapons and was a proponent of world peace and disarmament. During his lifetime, he also acquired the nickname 'Mango of Salem'.
The Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinction of race, occupation, position or gender. The award was originally limited to achievements in the arts, literature, science, and public services, but the Government of India expanded the criteria to include "any field of human endeavor" in December 2011. The recommendations for the award are made by the Prime Minister to the President. The recipients receive a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a peepal leaf-shaped medallion with no monetary grant associated with the award. Bharat Ratna recipients rank seventh in the Indian order of precedence.
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Modh is an adjective often adopted in the surnames of Gujarati people who originate from Modhera in Gujarat.
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General elections were held in India between 25 October 1951 and 21 February 1952, the first after India attained independence in 1947. Voters elected the 489 members of the first Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. Elections to most of the state legislatures were held simultaneously.
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India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy is a non-fiction book by Indian historian Ramachandra Guha. First published by HarperCollins in August 2007.
A.R. Venkatachalapathy is an Indian historian, author and translator who writes and publishes in Tamil and English. Currently he is a professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS). He is noted for collecting and publishing the works of Tamil writer Pudhumaipithan.
Bibi Amtus Salam was a social worker and disciple of Mohandas Gandhi who played an active role in combating communal violence in the wake of the Partition of India and in the rehabilitation of refugees who came to India following partition.
Annihilation of Caste is an undelivered speech written in 1936 by B. R. Ambedkar. The speech was to be delivered at an anti-caste convention held in Lahore by Hindu reformers. However, upon reviewing the written speech, the conference organizers deemed it too controversial, and subsequently revoked Ambedkar's invitation to the conference. Ambedkar proceeded to self-publish the speech, which gained widespread popularity and prompted translations into multiple Indian languages.
Ram ke Naam is a 1992 documentary by Indian filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. The film explores the campaign waged by the right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad to build a temple to the Hindu deity Ram at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as well as the communal violence that it triggered. A couple of months after Ram ke Naam was released, activists of the VHP and other Hindu nationalist groups demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992, provoking further violence. The film earned Patwardhan a wide recognition, and received several national and international awards.
Makers of Modern India is a non-fiction book written by Indian historian-scholar Ramachandra Guha and published by Penguin India in 2010. The book features profiles of selected personalities that laid the foundation of modern India: Ram Mohan Roy, Syed Ahmad Khan, Khuda Bakhsh, Jotirao Phule, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Tarabai Shinde, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, B. R. Ambedkar, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Periyar, Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay, Jawaharlal Nehru, M. S. Golwalkar, Rammanohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, C. Rajagopalachari, Verrier Elwin, and Hamid Dalwai.
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