From: V.GARG <PS@OCF.compuserve.com>

Date sent: 01 Nov 96 11:24:02 EST

I would like to nominate CMM Prem Kumar as my choice for the person of year 1996. He displayed a lot of courage while striving hard for maintenance of fairness, and reputation of Judiciary. So much the fear of his honesty in the mind of our ex-prime minister that he left no stone unturned to take case out of Mr Kumar's court.

Prem Kumar appeared as a ray of hope for justice in the darkness of corruption. India needs people like him not only in judiciary but in every other area. At least makers of country will think seriously before breaking a law themselves now onwards.

From: Suresh Balaraman Rao <bsrao@bucknell.edu>

Date sent: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 08:27:56 -0500

I would like to nominate Mr T N Seshan as the Person of the Year for the following reasons:

1. The biggest and most peaceful election in recent memory.

2. Making politicians aware that they are not above the law.

3. Preventing political mobs from making life hell for the citizens during election time

4. Introducing a ceiling on election expenses.

The list runs long but the most important fact about Mr Seshan is that he has sent out there is still hope for people who are honest and courageous enough to stand by their... may.

My salutes to him.

Suresh Rao

From: bala k chander <bala@sutmyn.com>

Date sent: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 11:47:40 -0500

My nomination is Finance Minister
Mr Palaniappan Chidambaram.What a fresh of breath air he is. Smart, intelligent, honest and competent. Will he be our next Prime Minister? I hope and pray.

From: Chetan Ramanna <chetan.ramanna@stjude.org>

Date sent: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 13:56:27 -0600

The Person of the Year is H D Deve Gowda

He is a simple man like any other Indian who has reached the highest pedestal in Indian politics. It encourages common Indian people to also have dreams. Without a strong following of MPs he has been able to run the government effectively.

He is easily the hardest working prime minister we have ever had in our political history. It is not as if we ever had a sincere PM. Give Mr Gowda a chance. Wish him all the success.

From: Abhijit Dey <abhijit@rccsun.ait.ac.th>

Date sent: Fri, 01 Nov 1996 13:01:54 +0700

My choice for Person of the Year is Leander Paes.

My reason for nominating Mr Leander Paes, because he has achieved the Olympic Bronze Medal which brought cheers to all Indian. He is an young man, may be this award may encourage him to get the gold medal next time. He always gives his best when he is playing for India, that should really be appreciated. He has achieved all of this without much help from government or organised sector.

His achievement has been the triumph of the sheer willpower of an Individual who is also proud to be an Indian. He is also very respectful of senior players, polite and disciplined, his public appearances are always very dignified. I am a person who is a die hard fan of Cricket. I understand Tennis but follow it closely only if Leander Paes is playing. Hey Paes! You have made us proud.

From: Sripathi Yarasi <ao718@rgfn.epcc.edu>

Date sent: Thu, 31 Oct 96 21:52:07 -0600 Person of the year -
Mohd. Azharuddin

He has in this one year gone from sky to sea & then back to sky.

He deserves a pat for the courage & stoicism he has shown throughout. Hats off to him!

From: mn34@cronell.edu

Date sent: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 16:24:47 -0500 (EST)

By far the man of the year should be Sachin Tendulkar for his major role as always in brining the Indian Cricket team to higher standards and to help us in enjoying the sweet taste of success after a long time!

My vote is definitely to the Indian wonder boy.

Yours truly,

Mahendra Nambiar

From: Harit Mankad <harit.mankad@salmon.isge.com>

Date sent: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 14:57:46 -0500

Hello

My choice is Ms Arundhati Ghose. She did what the others in the list have not been able to do. She stood in the line of fire and fought. She no doubt had the support of some officials but the firepower and the manner in which she went around answering hostile quires really puts her ahead in the race when compared to the others.

Seshan is yesterday's news and Deve Gowda is a complete non-entity.

From: Aditya Kothekar <akothek@ces.clemson.edu>

Date sent: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 14:16:34 -0500

Leander Paes-definitely.

Winning an individual medal at the Olympics has definitely been the achievement of the year.

Hope others share this view too.

From: <npgatt01 @starbase.spd.louisville.edu>

Date sent: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 12:59:14 0500 (EST)

I would like to nominate Justice J S Verma for the Man of the Year. Indian Justice system as the public opinion prevailed was considered secondary and lethargic in the three parts of a Republic also was considered to be servile to the other two bodies; Executive and legislative.

Justice J S Verma; due to circumstances or the atmosphere in the country stood bold in taking the cudgels against executive for misusing its power and to show them their position-where they stand that they are elected persons to serve in the interest of people not above the law and there should be no bias in delivering justice to whoever it may be.

From: Sharad Mishra <sharad.mishra@columbiasc.ncr.com>

Date sent: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 12:35:22 -0500

When I read Rediff wants its readers to nominate the person of the year. I started thinking about the main events of the current year. The World cup, elections,
scandals etc. The person who stands out in my view is
Mr T N Seshan. I remember the election days in India from my childhood. The messy grafitti. All those banners, loudspeakers. I had never imagined in my wildest dream that this will ever change. I give all the credit for this to Mr Seshan (WOW! Its been a long time since I refered to anyone as 'Mr' but I just felt like it for him).

We need more people like him in the government. I would also like to take this opportunity to give my two thumbs up to the Indian judiciary system. It looks like a ray of hope in an otherwise corrupt and dying system.

From: Steven Lindauer <slindaue@utsi.edu>

Date sent: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 15:24:59 +0000

My choice is Atal Behari Vajpayee.

I am choosing him not b'cos he belongs to any particular party but just because of his personality and HONESTY. This word HONESTY has lost its meaning in totality in Indian Politics. And here is one man whom India looked upon with great hopes. The greatest quality of this man is that even the opposition members have nothing against him.

We as a country are degarding ourselves b'cos of corruption, dishonesty and nepotism. And here is at least one HONEST man who doesn't hesitate to accept his own folly. Hats off To Atalji.

I choose him as the PERSON of 1996. He showed us a ray of HONESTY in Indian Politics, though it lasted only for a fortnight.

Arvind Agarwal

From: <kdogra@ccs.carleton.ca>

Person Nominated: Arunadhati Ghose

Reasons: She put forth India's stand and had the whole world talking about it.

Kavita Dogra

From: <aawasthai@bayou.uh.edu>

Person Nominated: Leander Paes

Reasons: For winning a medal for India in the Olympics. For showing that even India has some of the world's best athletes.

From: <Bharath@engr.uky.edu>

Person Nominated: Atal Behari Vajpayee

Reasons: Mr Vajpayee did himself and his party a world of good by taking the opportunity to form the Government at the center. We all know that Indias do have a profound sense of 'anti- governmentism' come election time. By sitting in the opposition both at the Center and in some crucial states like UP (hopefully), MP and Bihar, they are in the best position possible.

With Advani out of the race, with the hawala scandal dogging him, and with the CBI hot on the heels of many CMs, it looks like BJP is the only option left for the voters, and Vajpayee their only true national leader.

All in all, 1996 was a very good year for him.

Bharath Oruganti

From: <ashit@lec.okcu.edu>

Person Nominated: Leander Paes

Reasons: India spends loads of money on sports such as Cricket & Hockey & the results of both these sports are obvious. Although we didn't spend much on a sport like Tennis we won an Olympic Medal in it. That says a lot for both the sport & the sportsman. Therefore, the Indian sports authority should think about this fact & support other sports too. And if this dream comes true... hats off to Leander Paes who started it off! Even if it doesn't.... Leander made this point very clear. Hence, my Rediff person of the year is Leander Paes.

Ashit Ahluwalia

Continued