Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people of 2022 is out. The list has few Indians, including billionaire Gautam Adani, advocate Karuna Nundy, who has been championing the cause of the criminalisation of marital rape in India, and human rights activist Khurram Parvez, who is currently in jail as part of an investigation in a terror-funding case in Kashmir. Indian American Bela Bajaria, the head of Global TV at OTT platform, Netflix, is also part of the list.
Adani is featured among the list of the “Titans”. His profile states: “Like many countries that have in the past created global conglomerates, India is also undergoing an unprecedented concentration of economic and political power that reinforce one another. If Modi symbolizes the second, Adani is the poster boy of the first, as he competes with Warren Buffett to be the world’s fifth-richest person. With Modi’s stated goal of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2025, Adani’s journey may have only just begun.” Adani recently featured in the Forbes richest people in the world at rank 11.
Nundy and Parvez, on the other hand, have been featured on the list of “Leaders”. Nundy’s profile, written by Supreme Court advocate Menaka Guruswamy, states: “Karuna Nundy is not just a lawyer but also a public activist who ably and bravely uses her voice both inside and outside the courtroom to bring about change.” Parvez’s profile, written by journalist Rana Ayyub, states: “The soft-spoken Khurram is almost a modern-day David who gave a voice to families that lost their children to enforced disappearances, allegedly by the Indian state. Khurram's is the story and the storyteller of the insurgency and the betrayal of the people of Kashmir.”
Bajaria, meanwhile, was lauded by actress and producer, Mindy Kaling, in her profile for “helping create the future of television”. Bajaria, sharing the achievement over social media, wrote: “When I came to America as a 9 year old, I never saw myself or my Indian immigrant story on screen. And now years later to be recognized by Time magazine for championing stories from all over the world on a global platform is a great honor. People all over the world are being seen. Thank you to Time magazine.”
