1.     Mother Teresa
"GOD HAS NOT CALLED ME TO BE SUCCESSFUL, HE HAS CALLED ME TO BE FAITHFUL" ,said Mother Teresa once.But she has been successful in her mission,which is to bring succour to the lives of the poorest of the poor.The winner of the Templeton prize,the Noble peace prize,the US medal of freedom and honory citizenship of the US and the founder of the missionaries of charity, the nun has worked with divinely inspired energy and zeal. She has been attacked by skeptics ,rationalists,socialists, communists, feminists and even catholics.But she has never been deterred and has continued to bring hope to those who would seem to be beyond it.

 2.     Indira Gandhi
Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshini,nee NEHRU (1917-84) ,Prime minister of India (1966-77;1980-84),whose controversial political career ended with her assassination by Sikh conspirators.

Gandhi was born on November 19, 1997,in Allahabad ,the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, later the prime minister of India. A graduate of Visva-Bharati University,Bengal, she also studied at the University of Oxford ,England.In 1938 she joined the national congress party and became active in India’s independence movement.In 1942 she married Feroze Gandhi ,a Parsi lawyer also active in the party.Shortly after,both were arrested by the British on charges of subversion and spent 13 months in jail.

 
 3.    Amitabh Bachchan
He is called the brighest star of Indian cinema. He has many hits to his credit like " Amar Akbar Anthony", "Zanjeer", "Don".
 

5.    Rajiv Gandhi
Elder son of Indira Gandhi, he was the Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989 and President of the Congress (I) Party. He was assassinated in a bomb blast at Sriperumpudar near Chennai in 1991. He was awarded Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1991.
 

5.    Aishwarya Rai
Miss Rai brought glory to the country when she won the miss World contest in 1994. She has now entered the world of movies contributing to the best of her histrionic skills.

6.    Ravi Shanker
India's Sitar maestro and recipient of the "Padma Vibhushan" in 1981 and the raman Magasaysay award for journalism, literature and communication , art in 1992, he was at one time guru to Engish band "Beatles".

 7.     Rakesh Sharma
He is the first Indian cosmonaut to go into space. He, with his two fellow Soviet cosmonauts, soared into space aboard the Soyuz T- 1 1 for a historic rendezvous with the orbiting laboratory Salyut-7 from Baikonour cosmodrome in the U.S.S.R. on April 3, 1984. The 42 year-old Patiala-born ace test pilot became the world's 138th cosmonaut and the 11th to fly with Soviet cosmonauts in the intercosmos programme.

 
 8.    Sachin Tendulkar
At an early age of 25 years, India's little master has amassed runs in the field of Cricket. Hailed as a combination of  Sir Don Bradmen and Gary sobers, Sachin has indeed come a long way in a short span of time.
 
                                                             

9.    Arunadhati Roy
The God of Small things won the coveted Booker in 1997, sending India's literary establishment into paroxysms of euphoria and envy.
 
 
10.    Vishwanathan Anand
India's first chess Grandmaster and one of the world's top - ranked chess stars, he is the youngest Asian to win the International master's title in chess in 1987. He is the winner of Arjuna award, the Padma Shri. He scored a thrilling victory over World champion Gary Kasparov.
 

11.    Leander Paes

A tennis star from calcutta, he is the third Indian to win the Junior titles in the Grand Slam tournament. He and Mahesh Bhupati are ranked among the top doubles teams in the world.
 
 

 
12.    Satyajit Ray
India's renowned film personality is the recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 1985, the country's topmost award in the field of films named after the father of the Indian cinema, who is credited with having made India's first film, "Raja Harishchandra". In his early thirties, Mr. Ray had made his first feature film, "Pather Panchali" in 1955 and instantly shot into prominence. He has been riding the crest of Popularity for his perceptive and original concept in film making ever since. He has had the honour of heading the jury for the international film festivals held in 1965, 1974 arid 1977. He has won an oscar for his contribution to Indian cinema.