The Greatest Indian was a poll sponsored by Reliance Mobile and conducted by Outlook magazine, in partnership with CNN-IBN and The History Channel. The poll was conducted from June to August 2012, with the winner, Babasaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, announced on 11 August. A program associated with the poll aired from 4 June until 15 August.
Contents
- Nominations and voting process
- Top ten on the list
- List of Top ten with there votes
- List of original fifty nominees
- Results
- References
Unlike other editions of Greatest Britons spin-offs, The Greatest Indian did not include people from all time periods of history. Two reasons were given for this choice. The first was that "the pre-independence history of India is dominated by Mahatma Gandhi and it is impossible for anyone to come close to the Father of the Nation when it comes to Leadership, Impact and Contribution. [...] The panel of experts felt that if Gandhiji were to be included in the list, there would be no competition for title of The Greatest Indian". Secondly, The Greatest Indian chose to focus on India as a modern nation: "India today is unrecongnizable from the India that got independence in 1947. This nation has achieved this stature in the world thanks to contribution from millions of Indians. This is an effort to recognise one who has made the maximum contribution and impact in the surge of independent India".
Nominations and voting process
A list of 100 names was presented to and compiled by a 28-member jury composed of actors, writers, sportspersons, entrepreneurs, and men and women of distinction in their fields. This jury included N. Ram (former Editor-In-Chief of The Hindu), Vinod Mehta (Editor-in-Chief of Outlook), Soli Sorabjee (Former Attorney General of India), Sharmila Tagore (Bollywood actress and former Chairperson of the Censor Board of India), Harsha Bhogle (sports), Chetan Bhagat (author), Ramachandra Guha (historian), Shashi Tharoor (politician and author), Nandan Nilekani, Rajkumar Hirani, Soli Sorabjee, Shabana Azmi and Arun Jaitley. They finalized a list of the top 50 nominees, which was released to the public on 4 June 2012, by CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai. A three-way process was then used to assess a top ten, in which equal weight was given to the votes of the jury, an online poll, and a market survey conducted by the Nielsen Company. 7,129,050 people participated in this phase of the online poll. Public voting was conducted from 4 June to 25 June, with the final top ten were announced on 3 July. A second round of voting followed, using the same method as the first, lasting from 1 July to 1 August. Individuals were able to cast votes either by visiting www.thegreatestindian.in or by calling a unique number given to each of the nominees. Nearly 20,000,000 people voted in this round of the survey The announcement of the winner was made on 11 August, with a special finale, hosted by Amitabh Bachchan and featuring other Indian celebrities, airing on 14 and 15 August (Independence Day (India)).
Top ten on the list
List of top 10 great Indians and Top 1 Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar is the Greatest Indian.
- B.R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) Father of India's Constitution, polymath
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (1931-2015) 11th President of India, Scientist
- Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950) First Deputy Prime Minister of India
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924-) 10th Prime Minister of India
- Mother Teresa (1910 - 1997) Nun and missionary
- J.R.D. Tata (1904-1993) Aviator
- Sachin Tendulkar (1973-) Cricketer
- jebestine (1995-present) well talented
- Lata Mangeshkar (1929-) Playback singer
- Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 - 1964) 1st Prime Minister of India
List of Top ten with there vote's
Result and vote's of top ten great Indians. Founding fathe of modern India Bodhisattva B. R. Ambedkar is declared as The Greatest Indian.
List of original fifty nominees
Following are the 50 Nominees for the Greatest Indian in 100 Nominees
Of 50 nominees, 15 have received the Bharat Ratna, 13 have played a role in the freedom struggle while 6 are women. Among the 31 super achievers, Pt. Ravi Shankar (92), M S Swaminathan (87) and A B Vajpayee (88) are the senior most, while Sachin Tendulkar (39) is the youngest.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956) Father of India's Constitution, 1st Law Minister of India
- APJ Abdul Kalam (1931-2015) 11th President of India
- Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) 3rd Prime Minister of India
- Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) 1st Prime Minister of India
- Jayaprakash Narayan (1902-1979) social reformer
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924-) 10th Prime Minister of India
- Kanshi Ram (1934-2006) Founder and National president of the Bahujan Samaj Party
- Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950) First Deputy Prime Minister of India
- Ram Manohar Lohia (1910-1967) nationalist political leader
- Rajagopalachari () 1st Governor of the Independent India
- Sam Manekshaw (1914-2008) Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army
12. Baba Amte (1914-2008) social worker
13. Mother Teresa (1910-1997) nun and missionary
14. Ela Bhatt (1933-) founder Self-Employed Women's Association of India
15. Vinoba Bhave (1895-1982) advocate of nonviolence
16. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (1903-1988) freedom fighter
17. Ravi Shankar (1920-2012) musician
18. M. S. Subbulakshmi (1916-2004) Carnatic vocalist
19. M. F. Husain (1913-2011) painter
20. Bismillah Khan (1916-2006) musician
21. R. K. Narayan (1906-2001) writer
22. R K Laxman (1921-2015) cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist
23. B. K. S. Iyengar (1918-2014) founder of Iyengar Yoga
24. Amitabh Bachchan (1942-) film actor
25. Raj Kapoor (1924-1988) director of Hindi cinema
26. Kamal Hasan (1954-) actor, director
27. Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) filmmaker
28. Lata Mangeshkar (1929-) playback singer
29. A. R. Rahman (1967-) composer and philanthropist
30. Kishore Kumar (1929-1987) film playback singer
31. Dilip Kumar (1922-) actor, producer and activist
32. Dev Anand (1923-2011) producer and actor
33. Mohammad Rafi (1924-1980) singer
34. Homi Bhabha (1909-1966) nuclear physicist
35. Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002) business tycoon, founder of Reliance Industries
36. Verghese Kurien (1921-2012) social entrepreneur
37. Ghanshyam Das Birla (1894-1983) businessman
38. J. R. D. Tata (1904-1993) aviator
39. N. R. Narayana Murthy (1946-) IT industrialist
40. Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971) scientist
41. M. S. Swaminathan (1925-) geneticist
42. Ramnath Goenka (1904-1991) newspaper publisher
43. Dr. Amartya Sen (1933-) philosopher and economist
44. Dr. E. Sreedharan (1932-) civil engineer
45. Sachin Tendulkar (1973-) cricketer
46. Kapil Dev (1959-) cricketer
47. Sunil Gavaskar (1949-) cricketer
48. Dhyan Chand (1905-1979) hockey player
49. Viswanathan Anand (1969-) chess Grandmaster
50. Milkha Singh (1935-) field sprinter
Results
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was generally approved of as the greatest Indian, with several prominent scholars writing articles congratulating him, including Ramachandra Guha and S. Anand.