Name: Parvez Diwan
Email: diwan@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in
Nomination: I K Gujral
Reason why: A Gandhi cap do not a politician make. Deeds speak stronger than dress. And this man proves it

Name: Rajkumar S
Email: selva@emirates.net.ae
Nomination: Arundhati Roy
Reason why: Because under all the layers, excellence still gets recognised.

Name: Srinivasan Meka
Email: Srinivasan.Meka@Corporate.ge.com
Nomination: Mr Chandrababu Naidu
Reason why: Actively participating in the development of the state and India as well. He is the man behind the UF government and development of AP. He is very innovative and is attracting a lot of foreign investments and competition in southern India. He is fueling the growth of India.

Name: Haridas
Email: haridas_r@hotmail.com
Nomination: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi
Reason why: 1. They are not politicians -- which is a big plus point 2. They have stayed far away from politicians -- which is the second plus point 3. They have brought glory to the country by their own singular efforts, not because they are someone's son/daughter/mother/wife/widow etc.

Name: Udhayanithi Stalin
Email: Udhay@worldnet.att.net
Nomination: Kalaingar (CM of Tamil Nadu)
Reason why: He is the most experienced politician. He has done a lot of good things to the development of Tamil Nadu. He also played an important role in the formation of the central government. He has been and is the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for more than 12 years. Moreover, he is my grandfather.

Name: RV Subramanyan
Email: rv@avanticorp.com
Nomination: K R Narayanan
Reason why: When a person is proposed as Indian of the Year, we should look at her/his achievements in that particular year. The obvious candidates for this award are: (In alphabetical order)

1. Bhupathi, Mahesh: First Indian to win a Grand Slam. Paes and Bhupathi form a world class doubles combination. But his singles rank is pretty low and counts against him.

2. Chidambaram: Presented a brilliant budget. But this got lost in the political turmoil.

3. Gujral: A brilliant period as the foreign minister, was followed by a mediocre term as the PM.

4. Kalam, Dr Abdul: Many people have suddenly started acknowledging Kalam's contributions only after he received the Bharat Ratna. His achievements span a period of time.

5. Naidu, Chandrababu: He has made UF into an entity by forging many disparate elements together. The UF has not served India well -- yet.

6. Mother Teresa: Again her achievements span a period of time. She should not be proposed just because she died this year.

7. Tendulkar, Sachin (and other cricketers). Many cricketers including Sachin, Dravid etc. had a great year. But their individual achievements have not made India win.

Hence my proposal: President K R Narayanan. He has brought dignity to the office of President by asking the government to reconsider their recommendation to dissolve the UP government. His actions with respect to the Gujral government and in this political turmoil have been exemplary. While he has had years of meritorious service, this year has been the crowning achievement for him.

Name: Bhaskar J V Rao
Email: bhaskar@wyndgate.com
Nomination: Dr A P J Abdul Kalam
Reason why: He is a one man army who gave Indians some thing to be proud of!! A selfless, patriotic, hardworking technologist who has created terror in the hearts of the enemies of India.

Name: Somil Nagpal
Email: somil@poboxes.com
Nomination:Sathya Saran
Reason why: All the votes going to any of the Miss Indias this year belong to Sathya. Had it not been for the excellent grooming and great training given to them by the Femina team, our girls couldn't have made such a fantastic performance at all the 3 events. Kudos to Sathya and the Femina team.

Name: Shashikala Lakkaraju
Email: lshashi@aol.com
Nomination: Kalpana Chawla
Reason why: The first Indian woman in space which is a proud achievement in the year.

Name: Srinivas Danda
Email: sdandax@ichips.intel.com
Nomination: Nara Chandrababu Naidu
Reason why: One of the dynamic and brilliant Indian politicians. If he works at the same pace for the next five years, the Telugu people will the most luckiest people in India.

Name: Shelly Varghese
Email: shellyv@rocketmail.com
Nomination: Chandrababu Naidu
Reason why: This man with the vision brought so many multinationals to his state which in turn can pave way to his state's growth. He is a stark contrast to the present day politician.

Name: Pravina Seth
Email: pravina@rocketmail.com
Nomination: Kiran Bedi
Reason why: For her real life portrayal of an honest cop.

Name: Mahesh Chatopadhay
Email: Mahesh@hotmail.com
Nomination: Kiran Bedi
Reason why: For facing corruption in administration ranks with such bravery and against all odds.

Name: Suresh T
Email: tips@iname.com
Nomination: N Chandrababu Naidu
Reason why: A man of great vision. India needs such exceptional leaders to lead the country into the 21st century.

Name: T S Babu
Email: suresh@cybercom.net
Nomination: N Chandrababu Naidu
Reason why: The present arena of Indian politics is so murky that talk of it is enough to make a person disgusting. But NC Babu has set a standard for any leader with vision. We are at one of the most crucial stage in the history with the millennium approaching fast. India needs such a great leader like Chandrababu to lead it to next century.

Name: Shantanoo A Govilkar
Email: tanujago@megsinet.net
Nomination: Varsha Bhosle
Reason why: For bringing out the most rational commentary about the current situations and trends in India. It indeed served as an eye opener for pseudo-seculars, "Brown Sahibs", right wing factions, every reader!! The motto Satyamev Jayate really prevails in her articles.

Name: Ramakrishna Akella
Email: rakella@qualcomm.com
Nomination: Balaji Sampath
Reason why: IIT-JEE (Rank 4) B.Tech (ECE) 1994 PhD 1997 (University of MD). Has returned to India to live in a village in India to for holistic development (education, health, women's empowerment, infrastructure etc.) with the help of an organisation called Association for India's Development. I hope he can keep his faith and succeed in at least some of the tasks.

Name: Alli Shrinivas
Email: allishrinivas@hotmail.com
Nomination: Chandrababu Naidu
Reason why: He forced Bill Gates to invest in India. Responsible for software park in Hyderabad. Perfect politician, capable of uniting diversified 13 parties. Finally, he, the son-in-law of NTR, dared to oppose the charismatic leader when he was doing wrong and succeeded to rule AP.

Name: Devtosh Khare
Email: dkhare@mba1998.hbs.edu
Nomination: Narayanmurthy of Infosys
Reason why: For starting from nothing and taking full advantage of the great opportunities available in a high-growth emerging market, to create a company we all admire.

Name: Jeet Golchha
Email: jgolchha@hotmail.com
Nomination: Saurav Ganguly
Reason why: Look at the statistics.

Name: RAMAKRISHNA D PRABHALA
Email: prabhala@engr.uky.edu
Nomination: RAMAR PILLAI
Reason why: This person was the one who was successful in making petrol from the leaves of a tree. Human life can attain Sarthakatha (fame or glory) only when they've done something good for mankind. The politicians do things for their benefit only and do not bother about the welfare of the nation or the people. Whereas this person from a remote village in Tamil Nadu, who had dropped out from school, was able to manufacture petrol from the leaves of a tree without any knowledge of science. You may recall that even the scientists were surprised to hear about this and at that time, there was a demonstration of this idea in every major city of India. His work is indeed, GREAT.

Name: Piyush
Email: bhatt2@cps.cmich.edu
Nomination: ?
Reason why: Is not this a tragedy of India, that this question is very hard to answer. Today, India looks poor not money-wise but leader wise. Our country does not have a single person on whom everybody can be proud of? There are no stars in the motherland of Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Tilak, Vivekanand, Sardar oh no.. had this question be asked between 1850 and 1950, we could have a lot many personalities to nominate.

Why is everybody nominating the 'common man'... because we do not have a single star? How can we say now...Mere desh ki dharati sona ugale, ugale heere-moti.. Where are the heere and where are the moti? Pray to god, he might bless one.

Name: Maheen Mazhar
Email: hbact733@csun1.csun.edu
Nomination: MADHURI DIXIT
Reason why: For proving to people that hard work, dedication, and determination never go waste. For showing people that even after being being totally written off, she can deliver a mega hit like Dil to Pagal Hai. Besides, magazines cannot do without the lady. They need her on their covers to sell their mags!