Indian Heroes:

I was just thinking about the journey of independent India so far, I thought of listing (ranking) the few people who have contributed the maximum for the good of our country. And here’s my list. You can share your list/views.

1. Mahatma Gandhi (though he doesn’t have much contribution in the independent India, but surely he was the most prominent reason of the existence of something called “free India”).
2. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan – Father of Indian green revolution whose efforts made India food sufficient.
3. Indian Farmer – Who, despite of all odds, is providing enough food to feed the nation.
4. The first generation of Indian technocrats – who dared to cross the national boundaries and challenged the west with there intelligence.
5. First generation of Indian entrepreneurs e.g. Jamshedji Tata/JRD Tata, G.D. Birla, Dhirubhai Ambani and few others who created such big industrial powerhouses from ZERO that too in the license permit raj.
6. Dr. Manmohan Singh – Who started the economic reforms against all oppositions, which triggered the accelerated GDP growth.
7. Sachin Tendulkar – Who became the world’s best in his chosen sport.
8. Amitabh Bach Chan – Who is an icon in his profession, miles ahead of any competition.
Note for points 7 & 8: Some may feel that entertainment industry is not something which has contributed in our growth, but as it is a multi billion dollar industry, it provides thousands of jobs apart from entertaining us.
9. Baba Ramdev – There has always been many yoga gurus in India, but this man has taken the yoga to the household. Lakhs of people worldwide has cured themselves using yoga and pranayama.
10. Indian Media – Though this is also a product of economic reforms, but the comprehensive (and mostly unbiased) coverage holds a high value to the nation.

Well, there are some well known scientists, the likes of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Vikram Sarabhai and others but there is no way India can be called a leader in this area. There efforts, in my opinion, were too less to be counted at the world stage. That is why there is no scientist in my list.