''Lead India'' is an Indian television initiative launched on India's 60th Independence Day by

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

Group. Hosted by Anupam Kher, the program aired on

STAR One Star One was an Indian pay television network based in Mumbai. It was launched on 1 November 2004 and was it owned by Star TV and distributed worldwide by Fox International Channels. In November 2006, Star One was launched in the UK on Sky. ...

every Saturday evening. Citizens of India aged between 25 and 45 could participate in the three-stage contest, for which the winner would be a contender for participating in India's next assembly elections, a place on the leadership and politics course at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and a grant of Rs 50

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

for pursuing a public welfare project of the winner's choice. ''Lead India'' was the sequel to the newspaper's earlier "India Poised" initiative launched in January 2007. "India Poised" aimed to promote India's recent successes and its growing international importance, and also conducted a critical assessment of sectors where India needed improvement, with public

governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, social norm, norms, power (social and political), power or language of an organized society over a social system (family, tribe, formal organization, formal or informal organization, a ...

at the top of the latter list. Lead India therefore aimed to address that concern by offering the winner an entry to active politics without a long path up the political ladder. A program with a similar name was also launched, much before ''The Times of Indias Lead India campaign, by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the then

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

, in the early 2000s. In an episode telecast on 22 December 2007, Kumaramangalam Birla and

Akshay Kumar Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...

joined the jury as celebrity judges. Saumya Mishra left the contest for personal reasons. In the United States and Canada, the show aired on

every Saturday evening.

Finalists

Since 8 December 2007 eight ''Lead India'' finalists competed to decide the national winner: *Saumya Mishra -

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

*Sanjiv Kaura -

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

*Dipayan Dey -

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

*Ujjawal Banerjee -

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

*Ranjit Gadgil -

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

*Devang Nanavati -

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

(Runner up) * R. K. Misra -

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

(Winner) *

Abha Singh Abha Singh is an Indian activist and advocate currently practicing in the High Court of Judicature at Bombay. Her activism has focused on women's rights, gender equality, and justice. She runs an NGO by the name Rann-Samar that provides free ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

On 9 February 2008, the results were announced. R.K.Misra (Bangalore) won the contest against Devang Nanavati of Ahmedabad, with more votes and a lead of 6-1 from the jury of seven judges. He was crowned as Lead India "Mahanayak" by Abdul Kalam, the former president of India. Later on one of the finalists, Sanjiv Kaura, became the CEO of CSR for Times of India Group. Along with the British Council, the group launched Teach India Program. A "Lead India Video Contest" was also held. The winners were declared as Jyotsna Khatry, Ashwani Thakur, and Achin Jain as 1st, 2nd, 3rd respectively. Awards were declared at the ''Times of India'' website. Videos made by the winners were posted to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. There were three members in the jury: *

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 200 ...

Kiran Bedi Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist, former-tennis player who became the first woman in India to join the officer ranks of the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1972 and was the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry from ...

*Vikas Singh

References

External links

Official Site

R.K. Mishra's interview with The Scholars' Avenue, IIT Kharagpur

Lead India
{{STAR One The Times of India Star One (Indian TV channel) original programming Indian reality television series Events of The Times Group 2007 Indian television series debuts 2008 Indian television series endings