bow down to blackmail by Mamata Banerjee and her ilk in Singur or the
tragic events at the Taj hotel in Mumbai towards the end of the year,
Ratan Tata was rarely out of the news in 2008. Its hardly surprising,
therefore, that he should emerge as the runaway winner in a poll for
Businessperson of the Year.
With 44% the votes in an eight-city survey and 56% in online
responses, Tata was way ahead of the field. Mukesh Ambani, with 25% in
the physical survey and 10% online was second, his younger brother
Anil Ambani was third.
For the Woman of the Year, the physical survey saw Sonia Gandhi
emerging the clear winner with 39% votes, followed by Sheila Dikshit
with 15% and Katrina Kaif with 10%. Interestingly, the online
responses were completely different, with shuttler Saina Nehwal
claiming first spot with 27%, Dikshit second at 16% and Sonia third
with 15%.
The differences between the two sets of responses was even more marked
in the poll for Sportsperson of the Year. The eight-city survey, done
exclusively for TOI by leading market research agency TNS, had Sachin
Tendulkar on top with 26% and M S Dhoni just one vote behind, while
Indias first individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra finished
third with 20%.
In the online poll, however, Bindra was tops with 37%, Viswanathan
Anand second with 17% and Sachin, Dhoni and Saina shared the third
position with 12% votes each.
