From Greta Thunberg to Sundar Pichai, here are the top newsmakers of 2019

SUMMARY

From 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg to Isro chairman K Sivan to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, here are the most-talked-about personalities of 2019:

By CNBC-TV18Dec 26, 2019 3:03:06 PM IST (Updated)

Greta Thunberg: 16-year-old Greta Thunberg made headlines due to her stern remarks at the opening of the United Nations Climate Action Summit. "How dare you," said Thunberg, as she condemned the world leaders at the summit. "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words," she said, criticising the world leaders. Her angry condemnation of world leaders for failing to take strong measures to combat climate change brought back the world's attention on the global crisis. Thunberg was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2019 recently.

Nirmala Sitharaman: Nirmala Sitharaman has been one of the biggest newsmakers in 2019. From becoming India's first full-time female finance minister to being at the centre of controversies due to her comments on auto crisis and more recently, the onion prices, Sitharaman has made headlines throughout.

Uddhav Thackeray: After a high political drama in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Bal Thackeray was sworn-in as the chief minister of the state on November 28. Thackeray is the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post. In a first, Thackeray joined hands with NCP and Congress to keep BJP out of power.

K Sivan: Among the personalities who made news this year was also Isro Chairman K Sivan, who led the Chandrayaan-2 mission. Though the mission didn't go as planned, as Isro lost contact with 'Vikram' lander in the last minutes, K Sivan won a million hearts with his outstanding contribution towards the mission. He was also honoured with Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Award by the Tamil Nadu government this year.

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo: Economist Abhijit Banerjee and his wife Esther Duflo were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. Banerjee, who won the prize jointly with his wife Duflo and US-based economist Michael Kremer, is an Indian-American and in fact, the sixth Nobel winner with a Kolkata connection. Banerjee donned a dhoti while Duflo sported a sari at the award ceremony held earlier this month in Stockholm.

Sundar Pichai: Sundar Pichai took charge of Google's parent Alphabet as co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down earlier this month. Pichai continues to be the CEO of Google.

Amit Shah: PM Modi's confidant Amit Shah was appointed the home minister after the BJP's massive victory in the 2019 general elections. Shah won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Gandhinagar in Gujarat. He defeated Congress' CJ Chavda with over 5.5 lakh votes. Lately, Shah has come under heavy criticism after the Citizenship Bill, which he tabled in the Parliament, was cleared by both the Houses and became a law. There have been widespread protests in the country in opposition to the recently passed Citizenship Bill and the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) with the protesters saying that the two combined are against Muslims and are used to strip them of their nationality.

Ravish Kumar: Senior journalist Ravish Kumar was awarded this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award, regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize. 44-year-old Kumar, who is NDTV India's senior executive editor, is one of India's most influential TV journalists, the award citation by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said.

Ajit Pawar: NCP leader Ajit Pawar made headlines after he supported the BJP to form a short-lived government in Maharashtra. However, Pawar later quit as the deputy CM citing "personal reasons", following which Fadnavis too stepped down as chief minister, leading to the BJP-led government collapsing.

Pragya Thakur: Pragya Thakur has made headlines due to her controversial statements in 2019. Starting from her comments on former ATS chief Hemant Karkare to her remarks on Godse, Pragya Thakur has been a newsmaker for all the wrong reasons in 2019.