Five INDIANS in World's Most Powerful List

As the world population goes beyond 7 billion, Forbes has come up with the list of 70 World's Most Powerful People. It's time to raise the champagne as the Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are ranked among the top 20 powerful people in the world. While Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal are also included in the list, Azim Premji is the latest Indian entrant.

U.S. President Barack Obama gained the title this year by pushing back China's President Hu Jintao to 3rd position. In spite of his struggles with the latest political affairs, Obama relics the position of the head of the state of the world's biggest and most dynamic economy and is the commander-in-chief of the planet's deadliest military; therefore, he can indirectly be stated as the leader of the free world.

Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest name in the list holding the 9th position. He took the biggest leap this year,as he jumped 30 positions ahead from 40 in 2010. Dawood Ibrahim, who headed criminal activities in Mumbai and allegedly provides financial support to terrorists, is ranked at 57th position in the list.

Disappointment embraced a few people as they fell off the list this year. Oprah Winfrey, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced French politician and Naoto Kan, the former prime minister of Japan is a few to name. Ratan Tata could not retain his position in the list this year.

Though Sonia Gandhi dropped from 9th to 11th position, she still managed to hold her name in the list. India's most powerful politician was recently out of the country to seek medical treatment while Anna Hazare's hunger strikes shivered the whole nation. Among other titles, she is also ranked the 7th most powerful women in the world in the Forbes list. Gandhi is the real power behind the throne, grooming her 40-year-old son Rahul for prime ministerial role.

The Prime Minister of India is considered to be the most incorruptible figure in Indian politics today. The Cambridge and Oxford educated economist has a great input in India's economic reforms which has led to the growth of the country in recent times. Manmohan Singh was at the 18th position in the 2010 list and this year he is dropped to the 19th position.

The second richest man in Asia and the ninth richest man in the world, Mukesh Ambani, are also among the world's most powerful people, and is positioned at No. 35. Bagging many awards of honor, Ambani's Reliance industries signed a $7.2 billion deal with BP that obtained 30 percent in 23 of its oil and gas blocks in India. Reliance shares dropped by 11 percent as government auditors suspected the contract as it has violated some terms developing some of the blocks.

The world's largest steel maker, Lakshmi Mittal is the 47th powerful person in the world. His shares in ArcelorMittal are net worth of $6.9 billion and he looks forward to expand his company's mining interest by buying Canadian miner Baffinland Iron Mines in January. The company partnered with Peabody Energy to buy Australia's Macarthur Coal for $4.9 billion. Said to be one of the richest men in India, his daughter's wedding was the most expensive in the recorded history of the world.

The latest entrant in the list is the philanthropist Azim Premji. He now captures the 61st position in the list which belonged to Ratan Tata last year. Wipro with around $7 billion dollars is not performing up to the mark of late and the company's chief co-executive was replaced by another Wipro insider to command the revenue growth. The company recently acquired the oil and gas IT services business of U.S. based Science Applications International Corporation for $150 million. Azim Premji has made a donation of shares worth $2 billion to fund his educational charity last December.