Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman among world's 100 most powerful women: Forbes
New York, Dec 13: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, HCL Corporation CEO and Executive Director Roshni Nadar Malhotra and Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw have been named among the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes.
The Forbes 2019 list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women' has been topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde in the second spot and Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, ranked third. Also on the list is Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (29).
In 2019, women around the globe took action, claiming leadership positions in government, business, philanthropy and media. These trailblazers are not to be messed with, Forbes said.
Sitharaman, a newcomer on the Forbes most powerful women list, is ranked 34th. India's first female finance minister, Sitharaman has also served as the country's defence minister.
Sitharaman is the first female to hold the portfolio full time. Before this, former prime minister Indira Gandhi briefly took the additional charge of the ministry.
Nadar Malhotra is ranked 54th on the list. As CEO of HCL Corporation, she is responsible for all strategic decisions for the USD 8.9 billion technology company.
Malhotra is also the chairperson of the company's CSR Committee and is a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which is focused on education and has established some of India's top colleges and schools, Forbes said.
Mazumdar-Shaw, ranked 65 on the list, is India's richest self-made woman and founder of the country's largest biopharmaceutical firm Biocon in 1978.
Biocon has successfully forayed into the lucrative US biosimilars market, catching the attention of investors and it also became the first company to gain approval from the USFDA for two different biosimilars of drugs used in certain cancer treatments.
Mazumdar-Shaw has invested in research infrastructure and scientific talent with the aim of building a deep R&D-based biotech firm, not a copycat generics maker, Forbes said.
The Forbes list also includes Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda Gates (6), IBM CEO Ginni Rometty (9), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (18), New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (38), First Daughter and Advisor to President Donald Trump Ivanka Trump (42), singers Rihanna (61), Beyonce (66) and Taylor Swift (71), tennis star Serena Williams (81) and teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg (100).
Referring to Pelosi's recent "Don't mess with me remark to a reporter, Forbes said that could be the mantra for just about every one of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women.
"The top-ranked woman for the ninth year in a row, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is crusading against anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe; Taylor Swift is battling industry stalwarts and private equity firms over musician song-ownership rights; and 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg one of 23 newcomers to the list is fighting inaction on climate change and galvanizing millions of young people around the globe."
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Former Delhi Cong leaders, including Arvinder Singh Lovely, join BJP
New Delhi, May 4: Former Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the BJP on Saturday along with a few other leaders, including former MLAs Raj Kumar Chauhan, Neeraj Basoya and Naseeb Singh.
All the former Congress leaders, who have publicly slammed the opposition party's alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi for the Lok Sabha polls, joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, party general secretary Vinod Tawde and its Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni.
Lovely hailed the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for giving him and his colleagues the opportunity to join the party when they felt lost.
He asserted that Modi is set to retain power in the Lok Sabha polls and expressed confidence that the BJP's flag will fly high in Delhi as well.
The seven parliamentary seats in the national capital will go to polls on May 25 in the sixth round of the seven-phase elections, voting for which began on April 19. Votes will be counted on June 4.
A four-term former MLA like Chauhan, Lovely had recently quit as Delhi Congress president protesting the party's alliance with the AAP.
All these Congress leaders had echoed similar views. Amit Malik, a former youth Congress leader, also joined the BJP.
It is believed that these leaders were also upset with their party's choice of candidates, including Kanhaiya Kumar and Udit Raj, for the Lok Sabha polls here.
This will be the second innings of Lovely in the BJP after he left it to rejoin the Congress in 2018 following a brief stay in the saffron party.
Puri praised these leaders and said the BJP will utilise their services effectively.
Lovely said the people of Delhi want to rid the city of the AAP government headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is currently in jail in the excise scam case.
Chauhan said the AAP government has pushed the city backwards after all the "development" seen earlier, a reference to the Congress government headed by Sheila Dikshit.
Both he and Lovely were ministers in her government.
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva said no one can stand with those who have "looted" the city as he welcomed them to his party.
INDIA bloc parties AAP and Congress are fighting the polls in Delhi under a seat-sharing arrangement. While the AAP has fielded candidates from four seats, the Congress is contesting the elections from three.
