The Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad has been named in the TIME Magazine’s List of 100 Emerging Leaders in the World. Azad, though the only Indian resident to be on the list, shares this event with five other People of Indian Origin. They are Twitter’s top lawyer Vijaya Gadde, U.K.’s Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta, Doctor and Executive Director of nonprofit Get Us PPE Shikha Gupta, and founder of nonprofit Upsolve, Rohan Pavuluri.
Chandrashekhar Azad has been named in the list because of the efforts of his organisation, Bhim Army, of running schools to help Dalits escape poverty through education. The TIME profile on the activist also says that he “practices a distinct brand of assertiveness, sweeping into villages on loud motorbikes to protect victims of caste-based violence and organising provocative demonstrations against discrimination”. It has also been written that Azad had led the protests against the injustice and rape of a 19-year old girl in Hathras. Other than this, the anti-caste activist had also been at the forefront of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register for Citizens.
Vijaya Gadde, the top lawyer of Twitter, has been named for her key part in decision-making in the content moderation in Twitter. It has been said that Ms. Gadde is “one of Twitter’s most powerful executives” who was the one to convey the news to CEO Jack Dorsey that President Donald Trump’s Twitter account had been suspended following the Capitol attack of January 6.
Ms. Mehta, CEO of Instacart, has been named for her role in running the company during the COVID-19 Pandemic, which she describes as a ‘wartime moment’. Later though, Instacart has faced criticism for working conditions and frequent rule changes for shoppers.
Mr. Sunak, currently the Finance Minister of the United Kingdom has been named in the Emerging Leaders list for his governance during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and for his role in approving handouts and stimulus to people when so many had lost jobs. He has however faced criticism for advocating early lockdown relaxation rules. The Minister is considered very popular in the UK.
Ms. Gupta, Doctor and Executive Director of nonprofit Get Us PPE Shikha Gupta, has been named for her efforts in trying to provide Personal Protective Equipment to the health workers in the United States when “a leadership vacuum from the White House contributed to health care professionals across the country lacking the personal protective equipment they needed to stay safe and save lives”, the magazine said.
Rohan Pavuluri is a 25-year old Indian, and the youngest named in this list. His achievement has been the founding of Upsolve, a free online tool which helps its users fill bankruptcy forms by themselves. The tool has greatly helped people during this time of hardship when people found themselves bankrupt and had to go through expensive legal process, TIME says. The app has relieved $300 Million from the back of American users till now.
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