India Women’s Cricket Captain Harmanpreet Kaur Among 3 Indians On Time’s ‘100Next’ List

New Delhi: Time magazine has identified list of ‘100Next’ personalities, which includes Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

The list includes “100 up-and-coming visionaries worldwide who are influencing the future and shaping the forthcoming wave of leadership” across multiple fields, ranging from sports to science.

Harmanpreet is among three Indians on the list. The two other Indians among ‘100Next’ are Nandita Venkatesan and Vinu Daniel.

According to Time magazine, Harmanpreet’s “fire and flair have been instrumental in transforming women’s cricket from fringe curiosity to one of the world’s most valuable sporting assets.” The 34-year-old secured “legendary status back in 2017 when she scored a then-record 171 not out off just 115 balls in a World Cup match against Australia, leaving spectators agog at her extraordinary talent,” the magazine said.

Harmanpreet earlier this year led Mumbai Indians to the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) crown.

Know the other 2 Indians

Mint journalist Nandita Venkatesan, 33, was recognised for her successful challenge against a patent renewal application earlier this year for Bedaquiline, a vital tuberculosis (TB) drug.

Nandita was named on the list along with her co-petitioner Phumeza Tisile, a South African health activist. Both Nandita and Tisile are TB survivors who lost their hearing due to side-effects of a drug.

A “safer and more effective drug” to treat TB, by Johnson & Johnson, was inaccessible to many due to patent laws, Time magazine highlighted. After the firm filed for an extension of its patent in India, the two women, with the backing of Médecins Sans Frontières, filed a petition with Indian Patent Office. The duo won in March.

Their landmark victory means that the drug will now be available at a much lower price. Johnson & Johnson announced an agreement whereby generic versions of the drug will be more accessible in lower-income countries.

“We had to undergo what we had to undergo. But maybe we could prevent this from happening to others,” Nandita said.

Vinu Daniel has been recognised for his contributions to the field of architecture and design.

Vinu has been listed in ‘Artists’ category for his unique approach to design.

“Hyperlocal materials and techniques make for mighty elegant buildings, it turns out. In the hands of Vinu’s studio, Wallmakers, mud bricks swirl in pirouettes, and debris from previous walls becomes new walls. Pictures from construction sites exude pride and delight in craftsmanship and teamwork,” Time magazine said.

Vinu completed his B. Arch in 2005 from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, after which he worked with Auroville Earth Institute for United Nations Development Programme post-tsunami construction.

In 2007, he founded Wallmakers, which started with materials like mud blocks. They are currently learning to work with urban waste like tyres, scrap, plastic bottles, debris, etc.

“At Wallmakers, the aim is to build sustainable spaces that are responsive to specific site contexts and conditions ,while maintaining a balance between innovative and utilitarian designs. We are an office-less firm that is constantly on the move, looking for ways to make construction more sustainable, as we believe that going green is no longer an option, but a compulsion for 21st-century humans where architecture is no longer a profession, but has become a hazard,” says Vinu.