Narendra Modi, Kailash Satyarthi among 50 world's greatest leaders: Fortune magazine
New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi have been named among the 50 greatest leaders in the world by Fortune magazine in its annual list of "extraordinary" men and women transforming business, government and philanthropy. Modi is ranked 5th on the 2015 roster of 'World's Greatest Leaders' with Satyarthi coming in at the 28th spot.
The list has been topped by Apple CEO Tim Cook. A notable exclusion from the list is US President Barack Obama, who has not been named in the list for a second year in a row. Fortune said that "faced with difficult circumstances" domestically and globally, Obama has ‘surrendered.’
On Modi, Fortune said the Indian leader has "actually" begun to deliver on his election promises and is "making genuine progress" in his efforts to make India more business-friendly and less regulated, addressing violence against women, improving sanitation and "patching up relations with other Asian countries and the US". It said there is still a "long way to go" and fully achieving Modi's goals will require "reforming India’s powerful, widely corrupt bureaucracy."
Fortune noted that Modi has put the bureaucrats on notice and has been taking action where he can. He has also greatly simplified the procedure for getting a visa to visit India, symbolically lowering the status of bureaucrats and raising that of potential outside investors, it added.
"Modi still faces such huge challenges as privatising India’s vast portfolio of state-owned businesses and deregulating labour markets. But simply by declaring those as goals, he has seized control of the national agenda and sent a message that it’s time for all of India not just its infotech services sector to join the 21st century," Fortune said, citing forecasts by the IMF that India will be growing faster than China in the next couple of years.
On Satyarthi, Fortune said while he had been "overshadowed" by last year’s other recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Malala Yousafzai, Satyarthi has led the global fight against child labour for more than three decades. It said no one has done as much to prevent child labour as he has.
The list includes European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at the second spot, followed by Chinese President Xi Jingping (3), Pope Francis (4), General Motors CEO Mary Barra (9), Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz (17), Bill and Melinda Gates (18), Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (25), J P Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon (38) and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (44).
The list also includes Indian-origin CEO of nonprofit Last Mile Health Raj Panjabi on the 34th spot. Panjabi, a native of Liberia, is working with Liberia's government to launch a national community health worker programme.
