Sachin Tendulkar retired from international cricket after playing his 200th Test in November. India went on to win the second and final Test against the West Indies in Mumbai by innings and 126 runs to seal the series 2-0 and present Tendulkar with a perfect farewell gift.
Sachin Tendulkar: Sachin retired from international cricket after playing his 200th Test in November. India went on to win the second and final Test against the West Indies in Mumbai by innings and 126 runs to seal the series 2-0 and present Tendulkar with a perfect farewell gift. There wasn't a dry eye in Wankhede as the Master Blaster signed off with farewell speech that was emotional and candid. (Read: Sachin says goodbye with tears)
Arvind Kejriwal: From joining Anna Hazare's movement against corruption to forming the Aam Aadmi Party, Arvind Kejriwal has come a long way. His party made a spectacular political debut winning 28 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly. Mr Kejriwal emerged as a giant-killer himself, defeating three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit in her constituency of New Delhi by some 25,000 votes. (Read: 'Mango man' Arvind Kejriwal tastes sweet success)
Rahul Gandhi: Rahul Gandhi, Congress Member of Parliament from Amethi, was elected the party's Vice President this year. Even though the Congress number 2 has refused calls by his partymen to lead them in 2014, he has often been projected as the man who will eventually be named the party's prime ministerial candidate. (Read more on this story here)
Raghuram Rajan: Raghuram Rajan, who was Chief Economic Advisor in the Finance Ministry, took over as RBI Governor in September. He was awarded the Fifth Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013, in recognition of his ground-breaking research work and predicting the global financial crisis of 2008. (Read more on this story here)
Tarun Tejpal: Tarun Tejpal, the founder of Tehelka magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations, was accused by an employee of sexually assaulting her during the magazine's THiNK Fest in Goa this year. The 50-year-old initially stepped down from his position as Tehelka's Editor-in-Chief for six months to do 'penance' for his mistake. Though no formal complaint had been filed by the woman, who was allegedly assaulted, the Goa police filed a case and arrested Mr Tejpal on November 30. He was first put under police remand and is now under judicial custody. The scandal also led to resignations of seven other employees including Tehelka's Managing Editor Shoma Chaudhury. (Read more on this story here)
Rajesh and Nupur Talwar: The dentist couple was convicted for the 2008 murder of their teenage daughter Aarushi Talwar and domestic help Hemraj. After several twists and turns during the course of investigation in the five-year-old case, the two were awarded life sentence by a special CBI court on November 26. They are lodged in Ghaziabad's Dasna jail. (Read more on this story here)
Lalu Prasad: The politician from Bihar and the chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lalu Prasad was convicted in September for his role in the 1996 fodder scam. He was found guilty of facilitating the embezzlement of 37 crores of government money for fictitious medicines and fodder for cattle when his party was in power. Lalu, along with another former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, was awarded a five-year jail term by a special CBI court. Lalu was also disqualified a Member of Parliament after his conviction. The Supreme Court granted him bail in December. (Read more on this story here)
Edward Snowden: A computer specialist and a former contractor for America's National Security Agency, Edward Snowden came to limelight when he leaked secret NSA material revealing widespread surveillance being carried out by the agency. The exposes were published in May by leading newspapers the Guardian and The Washington Post. The documents provided by Snowden showed world leaders as well as common people across the world were being spied upon by the NSA in the name of identifying potential terror threat. The documents showed that people's personal data and phone records data is being mined from the servers of leading Internet companies like Facebook, Yahoo! And Microsoft using US surveillance programme PRISM. Many countries criticised the functioning of the NSA as described by the documents; Germany even summoned the US envoy after news reports claimed snooping on Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone. Snowden has been declared a fugitive by the US and authorities have charged him with espionage. He is currently living in Russia under temporary asylum. (Read more on this story here)
Malala Yousafzai: The Pakistani teenager, who was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban in October 2012 for fighting for right to education for women, was featured on the Time Magazine's cover in April as one of the 100 most influential people of the year. She was also nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize and addressed the United Nations conference in July for worldwide access to education. The UN called the event "Malala Day". (Read more on this story here)
Nina Davuluri: 24-year-old Nina Davuluri is the first Miss America pageant winner of Indian origin. She was crowned at a ceremony on September 15 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Ms Davuluri wants to be a doctor and is applying to medical school, with the help of a $50,000 scholarship she won as part of the pageant title. (Read more on this story here)
Pervez Musharraf: The former President of Pakistan and the country's military ruler, Pervez Musharraf returned to Islamabad in March this year after remaining in self-imposed exile in London for four years. Mr Musharraf wanted to take part in Pakistan's general elections, but was disqualified by an electoral tribunal. He was placed under house arrest on the orders of the Islamabad High Court on charges relating to the arrest of judges in 2007. He is being tried in Pakistan over several corruption cases and treason; he has also been indicted in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. (Read more on this story here)
Xi Jinping: Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, was elected the country's President in March. He replaced Hu Jintao, who retired after serving two terms. Since assuming the office, Mr Xinping, the son of a Communist leader, has intrigued the world. Despite his open and affable image, China has seen some of the toughest restrictions being imposed on the media and Internet this year; the arrest of rights activist Xu Zhiyong was also widely criticised. There is also tension with Japan in the disputed area in the East China Sea over the control of a group of islands. But unveiling a five-point formula to improve ties with India has contributed to Mr Jinping's reformist image. And the 59-year-old leader took it a step further when he announced the relaxation in China's decades old one-child policy. (Read more on this story here)
