The much-awaited and much-anticipated ‘Indian of the Year Award 2008’, launched by NDTV, was finally on declared on 17th January, at Hotel Taj Palace. Started by NDTV a couple of year back, ‘Indian of the Year Award’ has today become one of the biggest honors to be bestowed on outstanding Indians, by a media house. The award is meant for those who have shown promise and excellence in their respective fields. It is a way to honor them for the efforts they have put in for building the ‘Brand India’.
Winners of NDTV Indian of the Year Award
NDTV Leader of the Year: Dr Manmohan Singh
NDTV Business Leader of the Year: Mukesh Ambani
NDTV Sports Leader of the Year: Vishwanathan Anand
NDTV Indian of the Year: Indian Soldier
NDTV Entertainer of the Year: Rajnikant
NDTV Global Indian of the Year: R K Pachauri
NDTV Music Award: A R Rehman
The Procedure
The procedure for declaring the winners of the Indian of the Year Award is not too simple. Rather, it is a multi-layered process that involves a number of steps. The procedure is initiated by Editorial Board of NDTV. Its members conduct painstaking research on the eminent personalities in each category. Thereafter, the nominees are short listed and made public. Public is invited to vote for their preferred candidates, through SMS Polls, Online Votes, Opinion Polls and TV shows. Then, the auditors and validators for the awards - Ernst & Young assess the results. The winner is finally announced through the consent of the jury.
Guest List
The high profile guest list of the ‘NDTV Indian of the Year Award 2008’ will include the following individuals:
- Kamal Nath (Union Commerce Minister)
- L K Advani (Leader of the Opposition)
- Mani Shankar Aiyer (Union Sports Minister,)
- Dr. Manmohan Singh (Prime Minister of India)
- Mr K Balakrishnan (Chief Justice of India)
- Mr Praful Patel (Union Civil Aviation Minister)
- Murli Deora (Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas)
- P Chidambaram (Union Finance Minister)
- Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi (Union Information and Broadcasting Minister)
- Sheila Dixit (Delhi Chief Minister)
Nominations
For the first time since its inception, NDTV Indian of the Year Award has been divided into seven categories. This has been done to widen its scope and honor individuals in all the major fields. The nominations in each of the seven categories are:
Leader
- APJ Abdul Kalam
- L K Advani
- Manmohan Singh
- Mayawati
- Prakash Karat
Sports
- Biachung Bhutia
- M S Dhoni
- Sania Mirza
- Vishwanathan Anand
Cinema
- ‘Chak De’ Girls
- Himesh Reshammiya
- Rajnikanth
- Shahrukh Khan
- Shilpa Shetty
Global Indian
- Arun Sarin
- Indira Nooyi
- Mira Nair
- R K Pachauri
Business
- Azim Premji
- K P Singh
- Kumaramangalam Birla
- Mukesh Ambani
- Tulsi Tanti
Music
- A.R. Rehman
- Pritam & Metro Band
- Sukhwinder Singh
- Sunidhi Chauhan
- Vishal & Shekhar
Unsung Heroes
- Auto Raja
- Indian Soldiers
- Irom Sharmila
The Jury
The jury of the NDTV Indian of the Year Award will comprise of some of the most eminent personalities in the country, including:
- Dr K Kasturirangan (Former Chairman of ISRO and presently, Director - National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore)
- Justice J.S. Verma (Former Chief Justice of India)
- Justice Leila Seth (First Woman Chief Justice of a State High Court)
- Kiran Karnik (President - National Association of Software & Services Companies)
- Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (Former captain of Indian Cricket Team)
- Ramachandra Guha (Social, Environmental and Cricket historian, Academician and Biographer)
- Shekhar Gupta (Editor-in-Chief of The Indian Express)
- Shobha De (Author and Columnist)
- Shyam Benegal (Director)
- Sir Mark Tully (Former BBC South Asia Correspondent and Indophile)
