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Washington:
India's Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh figured among Forbes' list of world's 70 most
powerful people in 2011 as US Barack Obama regained his position
at the top.
Obama bumped Chinese President Hu Jintao from the No. 1 spot on
the magazine's annual rankings to the third place with Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin taking the second position.
Gandhi, 64, described as "India's most powerful politician (who)
has twice refused to serve as prime minister, delegating that job
to Manmohan Singh" dropped two notches from her ninth position
last year to be ranked the 11th most powerful person and 7th
powerful woman.
Manmohan Singh, 79, "the incorruptible Cambridge- and
Oxford-educated economist (is) widely respected as the man behind
India's economic reforms, which have led to the subcontinent's
blistering growth over the last decade," too dropped a notch to be
rated the 19th most powerful.
Other Indians on the list included Reliance Industries Chairman
Mukesh Ambani ranked 35th, India's top billionaire ArcelorMittal
Chairman Lakshmi Mittal in the 47th spot and Wipro chairman Azim
Premji at the 61st spot.
D-Company leader Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, "organized crime figure
(is) suspected of involvement in both the 1993 and 2008 terrorist
attacks in Mumbai" was ranked 57th, a notch behind Pakistani spy
agency Inter-Services Intelligence chief, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, while
Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was ranked 34th.
Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, 76, living in exile in India
was ranked 51st, a notch behind former US President Bill Clinton.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel remained the most powerful woman
at No. 4 on the list, as Europe's largest economy continued to
wield its influence over the troubled European Union.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is at No. 5 on the list while
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has skyrocketed from No. 40 to No. 9,
sandwiched between US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (No.
8) and British Prime Minister David Cameron at No. 10.
The king of the world's largest oil producer Saudi Arabia,
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, came in at No. 6 and Pope Benedict
XVI was No. 7.
New Apple CEO Tim Cook (58th), Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (14th),
and new IMF managing director Christine Lagarde are among 14
newcomers.
Ten people dropped off the list, among them Oprah Winfrey,
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Bin Laden, the late Steve Jobs and Julian
Assange.
(Arun Kumar can
be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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