Power is defined as the ability to influence people and events. By that yardstick,The Indian Express power list 2012 shows power is more variable than ever before.
There are 27 new names,there’s also considerable churn in the names that make up the top 30. There are seven new names in the top 30 and significant changes in ranking for others,pointing to some major developments over the past 12 months. For one,the big story of the year was clearly the Anna Hazare-led movement against corruption.
Click to view The Power List 2012
That development reflected the changing contours of political power at the national level,with the UPA government tainted by scandals,paving the way for an increasingly aggressive and more influential Opposition. There has also been a reshuffle in the list of establishment figures who have fallen or risen according to the roles they have played in the series of crises that hit the UPA-II government. There are some intriguing changes elsewhere on the list,with the 2G scandal,the global economic crisis and slowdown in reforms impacting the corporate sector.
These changes were what our jury looked at when they got down to the tough job of picking the 100 most powerful people in a country of 1.2 billion. As always,the jurys decisions were based on the candidates ability to command influence as also the fact that power can be negativethe power to disrupt,to block.
The Indian Express annual power list is reflective of social,economic and political change in India. The rise of social activism is definitely reflected in the top 30 list as well as in the list of new entrants. Equally,quite a few names are connected with cinema or music,an indication that the entertainment industry has gained in influence.
As always,we have mini lists: our pick of the top 10 from various fields,from economics to sports and films. And,as always,if you disagree with our jury,please let us know,at ie100@expressindia.com.
1. Rahul Gandhi,41,Congress General Secretary
Rank ’11: 12
2. Sonia Gandhi,65,Congress President
Rank ’11: 2,
3. Manmohan Singh,79,Prime Minister
Rank ’11: 4
4. Mohan Bhagwat,61,Head of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Rank ’11: 42
5. Sushma Swaraj,60,Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha
Rank ’11: 3
6. Arun Jaitley,59,Leader of Oppn. in Rajya Sabha
Rank ’11: 13
7. Mamata Banerjee,52,CM of West Bengal
Rank ’11: 7
8. Pranab Mukherjee,76,Finance Minister
Rank ’11: 14
9. AK Antony,71,Defence Minister
Rank ’11: 10
10. P Chidambaram,66,Home Minister
Rank ’11: 15
11. Pulok Chatterji,60,Principal Secretary to the PM
New on the list
12. Mukesh Ambani,54,Chairman,Reliance Industries
Rank ’11: 9
13. Nitish Kumar,60,Chief Minister of Bihar
Rank ’11: 6
14. Narendra Modi,61 Chief Minister of Gujarat
Rank ’11: 18
15. Ratan Tata,74,Chairman,Tata Group
Rank ’11: 39
16. S H Kapadia,64,Chief Justice of India
Rank ’11: 1
17. Anna Hazare,74,Social & political activist
New on the list
18. Amar Pratap Singh,59,Director,CBI
Rank ’11: 32
19. Mulayam Singh Yadav,72,President,Samajwadi Party
New on the list
20. Akhilesh Yadav,38,UP state chief of Samajwadi Party
New on the list
21. Jayalalithaa,63,Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Rank ’11: 16
22. Azim Premji,66,Chairman,Wipro Ltd
Rank ’11: 19
23. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,40,Congress campaigner
New on the list
24. Vinod Rai,63,Comptroller and Auditor-General
Rank ’11: 72
25. Digvijaya Singh,64,Congress General Secretary
26. Ahmed Patel,62,Sonia Gandhi’s Political Secretary
Rank ’11: 21
27. Arvind Kejriwal,43,Social & political activist
New on the list
28. Nitin Gadkari,55,BJP president,
Rank ’11: 30
29. Sunil Mittal,54,Chairman,Bharti Enterprises
Rank ’11: 35
30. Cyrus Mistry,43,Chairman designate,Tata Group
New on the list
31. Kanishka Singh,33,Political aide of Rahul Gandhi
New on the list
32. Prashant Bhushan,56,Lawyer and activist
Rank ’11: 61
33. Raman Singh,59,Chief Minister,Chhattisgarh
Rank ’11: 24
34. Nandan Nilekani,56,Chairman,UIDAI
Rank ’11: 43
35. Mayawati,56,UP Chief Minister
Rank ’11: 36
36. Goolam E Vahanvati,62,Attorney General of India
Rank ’11: 44
37. SY Quraishi,64,Chef Election Commissioner of India
Rank ’11: 45
38. D Subbarao,63,Governor,Reserve Bank of India
Rank ’11: 11
39. LK Advani,84,Senior BJP leader
Rank ’11: 37
40. Kaushik Basu,60 Chief Economic Advisor,Finance Ministry
Rank ’11: 46
41. UK Sinha,59,Chairman,Sebi
Rank ’11: 94
42. Deepak Parekh,67,Chairman,HDFC
Rank ’11: 41
43. Fali S Nariman,83,Constitutional Jurist
Rank ’11: 48
44. GM Rao,62,Chairman & MD,GMR Group
Rank ’11: 49
45. Sheila Dikshit,74,CM,Delhi
Rank ’11: 76
46. Naveen Patnaik,65,Chief Minister,Orissa
Rank ’11: 53
47. Amarinder Singh,69,President,Punjab Congress
New on the list
48. Ganapathy,59,General Secretary,CPI (Maoist)
Rank ’11: 40
49. Aruna Roy,65,Member,National Advisory Council
New on the list
50. Sharad Pawar,71,Agriculture Minister
Rank ’11: 50
51. Pawan Munjal,57,MD & CEO,Hero MotoCorp
New on the list
52. Sushil Kumar Modi,60,Deputy CM,Bihar
Rank ’11: 62
53. Salman Khurshid,59,Law Minister
Rank ’11: 34
54. Anil Ambani,52,Chairman,Reliance ADA Group
Rank ’11: 51
55. Anand Mahindra,56,Vice chairman & MD,Mahindra & Mahindra
Rank ’11: 65
56. KV Kamath,64,Chairman,Infosys
Rank ’11: 66
57. Rahul Bhatia,50,Chairman,IndiGo
Rank ’11: 26
58. Raj Thackeray,43,President,MNS
Rank ’11: 67
59. Aamir Khan,46,Actor
Rank ’11: 68
60. Ghulam Nabi Azad,63,Health & Family Welfare Minister
Rank ’11: 69
61. MS Dhoni,30,Cricketer
Rank ’11: 17
62. Kumar Mangalam Birla,44,Chairman,Aditya Birla Group
Rank ’11: 74
63. Lakshmi Niwas Mittal,61,Chairman,ArcelorMittal
Rank ’11: 75
64. Kapil Sibal,63,Minister of HRD & IT
Rank ’11: 23
65. Salman Khan,46,Actor
Rank ’11: 78
66. N Srinivasan,67,President,BCCI
New on the list
67. Samir Jain,57,Vice-Chairman,Bennett,Coleman & Co. Ltd. (Times Group)
Vineet Jain,45,Managing Director,Times Group
Rank ’11: 56
68. Shivraj Singh Chouhan,52,Chief Minister,Madhya Pradesh
Rank ’11: 80
69. Sanjay Gupta,43,CEO,Jagran Prakashan
MM Gupta,70,Chairman and Managing Director,Jagran Prakashan
Rank ’11: 82
70. C Rangarajan,79,Chairman,PMEAC
New on the list
71. Shobhana Bhartia,53,Chairperson,Hindustan Times Group
Rank 11: 77
72. Uday Shankar,49,Chief Executive Officer,STAR India
Rank 11: 85
73. Arun Shourie,70,Journalist-writer
Rank 11: 86
74. Omar Abdullah,41,Chief Minister,J&K
Rank 11: 87
75. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,55,Spiritual leader
Rank 11: 93
76. Uday Kotak,52,Managing Director,Kotak Mahindra Bank
Rank 11: 83
77. Aditya Puri,58,MD & CEO,HDFC Bank
New on the list
78. E Sreedharan,79,Former MD of Delhi Metro
Rank 11: 57
79. Shivshankar Menon,62,National Security Advisor
Rank 11: 33
80. Aveek Sarkar,67,Chief Editor,ABP Group
Rank 11: 79
81. Anand Sharma,59,Commerce Minister
Rank 11: 31
82. Nita Ambani,48,Entrepreneur & owner of Mumbai Indians
New on the list
83. Justice Markandey Katju,65,Chairman,Press Council of India
New on the list
84. Vidya Balan,34,Actor
New on the list
85. Baba Ramdev,40,Spiritual leader
New on the list
86. Ekta Kapoor,38,TV and Film producer
New on the list
87. Subramanian Swamy,72,President,Janata Party
New on the list
88. Sachin Tendulkar,38,Cricketer
Rank 11: 8
89. Ranbir Kapoor,29,Actor
New on the list
90. Katrina Kaif,27,Actor
Rank 11: 99
91. Chanda Kochhar,50,MD & CEO,ICICI Bank
Rank 11: 47
92. Jaggi Vasudev,54,Spiritual leader
Rank 11: 97
93. Karan Johar,39,Film maker
Rank 11: 81
94. Shikha Sharma,49,CEO,Axis Bank
New on the list
95. AR Rahman,46,Musician
New on the list
96. Devi Prasad Shetty,58,Cardiac surgeon
Rank 11: 91
97. Bhaiyyuji Maharaj,40,Spiritual leader
New on the list
98. Pradeep Kumar,62,Central Vigilance Commissioner
New on the list
99. Abul Qasim nomani,72,Head of Dar ul Uloom,Deoband
New on the list
100. AK Seth,59,Cabinet Secretary
New on the list
