Tuesday, December 16, 2025
ADVT 
National

Obama Writes About PM Modi In Time Magazine, Calls Him 'India's Reformer-in-chief'

Darpan News Desk, 16 Apr, 2015 12:51 PM
    Headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom President Barack Obama calls "India's reformer-in-chief", four people of Indian origin figure in the Time magazine's list of the World's 100 most influential people this year.
     
    Besides Modi, others on the influential magazine's list of 100 Titans, Pioneers, Artists, Leaders and Icons include Chanda Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela, and Vikram Patel, co-founder of the NGO Sangath.
     
    In his profile of Modi, the commander-in-chief of the world's most powerful country notes, "As a boy, Narendra Modi helped his father sell tea to support their family.
     
     
    "Today, he's the leader of the world's largest democracy, and his life story -- from poverty to Prime Ministera -- reflects the dynamism and potential of India's rise," Obama writes.
     
    Reflecting his close relationship with Modi, Obama referring to him by his first name recalls that when "he came to Washington, Narendra and I visited the memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr".
     
     
    "We reflected on the teachings of King and Gandhi and how the diversity of backgrounds and faiths in our countries is a strength we have to protect," he wrote.
     
    "Prime Minister Modi recognises that more than one billion Indians living and succeeding together can be an inspiring model for the world," Obama wrote.
     
    "Like India, he transcends the ancient and the modern -- a devotee of yoga who connects with Indian citizens on Twitter and imagines a 'digital India'," Obama wrote.
     
    Chanda Kochhar is described by Anshu Jain, co-chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank, as "A banker with vision and reach."
     
    "She has brought India's largest private bank a global vision and impressive returns, while also reaching out to the nation's masses with branches in remote villages where banks simply didn't exist," Jain writes.
     
    Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is billed as "The turnaround artist" who is "setting Microsoft up for greatness again".
     
    "Changes that once would have been considered blasphemous -- releasing open-source software, building on iOS and Android and even making Windows free in some cases -- are turning Microsoft around," says Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box.
     
     
    Vikram Patel, co-founder of the NGO Sangath and the Centre for Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is described as a "Well-being warrior".
     
    "He helps spread the simple yet profound idea of mental health for all. He provides hope that mental illness and trauma make us neither weak nor unworthy of love and respect," writes Barbara Van Dahlen, founder of Give an Hour and the Campaign to Change Direction.
     
    The annual TIME 100 issue, the magazine says "tells 100 stories of individual influence. But taken together, these stories are an anthem to interaction, the convergence that occurs when you harmonise a good idea".
     
    For the third straight year, Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai, 17, is the youngest person on the list.
     
    The oldest person on the list is Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, who at 88 finds himself the steward of the Arab world's youngest democracy.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    B.C. Seniors' Advocate Says Psychotic Drugs Being Prescribed Without Diagnosis

    B.C. Seniors' Advocate Says Psychotic Drugs Being Prescribed Without Diagnosis
    VICTORIA — The advocate for seniors in British Columbia says too many people in government care are prescribed antipsychotic drugs without being properly diagnosed.

    B.C. Seniors' Advocate Says Psychotic Drugs Being Prescribed Without Diagnosis

    57-Year-Old Man Found In Vancouver Parking Lot With Head Injury Dies In Hospital

    57-Year-Old Man Found In Vancouver Parking Lot With Head Injury Dies In Hospital
    VANCOUVER — A man found unconscious in an east Vancouver parking lot with a serious head injury has died. Police say the 57-year-old man was found lying on the ground (on the 1200 block of Kingsway Avenue) 

    57-Year-Old Man Found In Vancouver Parking Lot With Head Injury Dies In Hospital

    BC Woman Set On Fire In Supposed Pagan Ritual Was Social Worker On Schoenborn File

    BC Woman Set On Fire In Supposed Pagan Ritual Was Social Worker On Schoenborn File
    KAMLOOPS, B.C. — A B.C. woman who suffered a fiery death in a supposed pagan ritual "gone horrifically wrong" was a former social worker who handled the case of three murdered children.

    BC Woman Set On Fire In Supposed Pagan Ritual Was Social Worker On Schoenborn File

    Prime Minister Announces Student Loans Available For Courses Lasting Minimum Of 34 Weeks

    Prime Minister Announces Student Loans Available For Courses Lasting Minimum Of 34 Weeks
    VANCOUVER — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced a change to the student loan program, allowing people to apply for financial assistance for courses lasting a minimum of 34 weeks.

    Prime Minister Announces Student Loans Available For Courses Lasting Minimum Of 34 Weeks

    Indian Student Rajwinder Singh Wrongly Accused Of Sexual Abuse In New Zealand Seeks Justice

    Indian Student Rajwinder Singh Wrongly Accused Of Sexual Abuse In New Zealand Seeks Justice
    A photo of Rajwinder Singh riding a bus in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand went viral after it was uploaded on the popular social media site Facebook in January with an accompanying message accusing him of molestation

    Indian Student Rajwinder Singh Wrongly Accused Of Sexual Abuse In New Zealand Seeks Justice

    Unsuccessful B.C. NDP Candidate Matt Toner Seeks Green Nomination In Vancouver Riding

    Unsuccessful B.C. NDP Candidate Matt Toner Seeks Green Nomination In Vancouver Riding
    Matt Toner ran for the NDP in the 2013 provincial election in the riding of Vancouver-False Creek but lost to Liberal Sam Sullivan.

    Unsuccessful B.C. NDP Candidate Matt Toner Seeks Green Nomination In Vancouver Riding