World Intellectuals

Three Indians among top 100 shortlisted world intellectuals

Tue, May 6 07:38 PM

New York, May 6 (IANS) Three Indians are among 100 names shortlisted by a reputed US foreign policy magazine of the world's top 100 public intellectuals. The magazine has asked readers to vote in their favourites to finally pick the top 20.

Indians in the list published in the May-June issue of Foreign Policy magazine are historian Ramachandra Guha, political psychologist Ashis Nandy and environmentalist Sunita Narain.

Also listed are four Indian Americans: development economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, novelist Salman Rushdie, journalist and author Fareed Zakaria and neurosuregon V.S. Ramachandran.

Nobel Laureate microfinancier from Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus and Pakistan's lawyer-politician Aitzaz Ahsan too are among the thinkers who, according to the Washington-based magazine, are 'shaping the tenor of our times'.

In defining the criteria for its selection, the magazine said the candidates, 'among the world's most sophisticated thinkers... have shown distinction in their particular field as well as an ability to influence wider debate, often far beyond the borders of their own country'.

The magazine goes on to task online readers to choose who should receive top honours by voting for the world's top five public intellectuals. Based on the votes, it will publish the list of the top 20 public intellectuals in its July-August issue.