Hasina among top 100 Asians

Bangladesh Prime Minister and ruling Awami League’s President Sheikh Hasina has retained her position among the top 100 influential Asians.

Chinese and Indians dominated the list of the 100 Most Influential Asian People of 2014 published by Asian Awards Ltd 2014.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also head of the ruling Communist Party of China, topped the list for a second consecutive time, reported The Times of India on Sunday.

The awards are given in different categories such as politics, business, banking/economics, religion/philosophy, entertainment and sports.
The Asian Awards, honouring Asian excellence, is founded by businessman Paul Sagoo.

Sheikh Hasina is 22nd on the list. She was one spot ahead last year.

With Jinping heading the list, India’s Congress chief Sonia Gandhi came in second, Chinese premier Le Keqiang third and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi was fourth.

Sonia Gandhi’s son and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is fifth and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sixth.

Times of India reported that others in the top 10 are Hong Kong-based business tycoon Sir Li Ka Shing (7), UN chief Ban Ki Moon (8), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (9) and South Korea President Park Guen-Hye (10).

It said Finance Minister P Chidambaram is listed 11 while President Pranab Mukherjee is 19th. Pakistan's former Army chief Ashfaq Kayani is 18th on the list.

Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani is 21st in this year’s list followed by Hasina.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is 34th, while Lakshmi Mittal, India's Business magnate who is worth $17.5 billion, is 36th.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is 42nd Influential person, while Indian tycoon Azim Premji is 44th.

Indian social activist Anna Hazare is listed as 46th influential person, while Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize winner for Economics, is 52nd.

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan is 63rd and Rajnikanth is 66th. Indian film actor Aamir Khan is 68th on the list while Sachin Tendulkar is 76th.

“The aim of the list is simple, to showcase the most influential Asian people in the world today. However, with literally thousands of worthy candidates, the task proved to be an immense challenge for the researchers and the judging panel,” said the Times of India report quoting Asian Awards Founder Paul Sagoo.