PM Modi, CM Mamata among 4 Indians in Time's 2021 list of 100 most influential people

The Time Magazine on Wednesday rolled out the list of 100 most influential people in the world for the year 2021 and four Indian names found their mention in the list. The list was segregated into various categories such as Icons, Pioneers, Titans, Artists, Leaders and Innovators. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council (A3PCON) Executive Director Manjusha P Kulkarni made it to the list of 100 most influential people of Time Magazine for the year 2021.

PM Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee among Leaders

Time Magazine had placed PM Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee in the category of Leaders. The segment of Leaders also included other global political leaders such as US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Former US President Donald Trump, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Israel President Naftali Bennett and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi among others. Surprisingly, Time has also included Taliban co-founder and now Afghanistan's Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar to the list of 100 most influential people as Afghanistan has suddenly become the centre stage of the evolving geopolitical scenario after the Taliban's hostile takeover of Afghanistan as US and NATO forces made an unceremonial exit.

Adar Poonawalla among Pioneers

Adar Poonawalla was placed in the category of Pioneers for his company's critical role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Serum Institute of India, which is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, has also been at the helm of the COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing for India as well as the developing countries across the world, which are not privileged enough to have quick access to the vaccines to immunise their population against COVID-19. Serum Institute has been a major vaccine supplier to the Gavi alliance's COVAX initiative, which is an international alliance set up for equitable distribution of vaccines across developing countries. The Serum Institute has doubled the production of the COVID-19 vaccine Covishield since May 2021 and is also adding newer vaccines including Novavax and Russia's Sputnik V to its product portfolio to fight the pandemic.

Manjusha P Kulkarni among Icons

Time has placed Manjusha P Kulkarni in the category of Icons which had a mix of people from all walks of life from sportspersons, actors, activists to lawyers. Manjusha P. Kulkarni (Manju) is Executive Director of Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON), a coalition of over forty community-based organizations that serves and represents the 1.5 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Los Angeles County. Manjusha also serves as a Lecturer in the Asian American Studies Department of UCLA. In March 2020, Manjusha co-founded Stop AAPI Hate, the nation’s leading aggregator of COVID-19-related hate incidents against AAPIs (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders).