Raghuram, Vandana among 7 most powerful people
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 15 November 2010, 15:33 IST   |    8 Comments
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Raghuram, Vandana among 7 most powerful people
Boston: Raghuram Rajan, renowed academician has been named as one of the most powerful economists in the world. Rajan a professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business was one of the earliest economists to point out the 'distortions in bankers' and traders' compensation and other serious flaws of Wall Street that led to the US and global financial crisis. Nouriel Roubini, Harvard alumnus and New York University professor who predicted the global financial crisis, picked the world's most powerful economists for the Forbes magazine. 'Fault lines', Rajan's recent book won the 2010 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. Other than the economists, the Forbes also picked seven influential individuals from the fields such as education, Hollywood, media, entrepreneurs, economists, energy, philanthropists, bloggers, designers, feminists and fashion. In the feminist category, Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva has been named as one of the seven most powerful feminists in the world. "The seven most powerful feminists in the world were picked by playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who is best known for her play 'The Vagina Monologues." Ensler said her list highlights the great and often invisible work of grassroots feminists who are "breaking the silence, speaking truth to power, exposing atrocities and reminding us that women's rights are inherently connected to the future of our world." By integrating women, as both farmers and decision makers in places like India, Shiva's writings have shown that a more sustainable, productive and efficient agricultural system is possible," Ensler said of her pick. However, in India, Anil Gupta, the founder of India's Honeybee Network picked Mansukhbhai Jagani, Mansukhbhai Patel and Mansukhbhai Prajapati as India's most powerful entrepreneurs. Jagani developed a motorcycle-based tractor for India's poor farmers, which is both cost effective, costing roughly USD 318, and fuel efficient. Patel, a farmer Patel invented a cotton stripping machine that has significantly cut the cost of cotton farming and revolutionised India's cotton industry and Prajapati, a potter, invented a clay non-stick pan that costs Rs 100 and a clay refrigerator that runs without electricity for those who cannot afford a fridge or their electricity and maintenance costs.