Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja Is First On The “Top World Thinker 2020” List. Her Foresight In The War Against Corona Is Being Lauded Everywhere
There was a time when women winning accolades and titles was fairly new, surprising and to a lot of orthodox people – a little unsettling. Not just the fact that women were now in the running because they didn’t know that was a thing, but also the fact that they were in it to win it, would become a matter of concern. However, that time is long gone now, and been replaced with one where women bringing back feathers in their caps isn’t just all too common, but is now something people will have to deal with as as a certainty. And while, a win from any and every woman, is a win for womankind, we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to how when an Indian woman gets to the top, the victory is a tad sweeter.
Like when we heard about Kerala’s health minister K. K Shailaja making it to the top of a “top 50 thinkers 2020” list by a British publication. Printed by the British magazine, Prospect, 50 people from all over the world are selected to acknowledge and appreciate them with the title of the best of the best thinkers in the year 2020.
A list that was diverse enough to include people from all backgrounds and had philosophers, intellectuals, artists, scientists and writers and the winners were settled upon through votes by the readers and based on the opinion of the panel of experts and editors. And almost 20,000 votes were cast and then publicly counted in a ballot, it was absolutely thrilling to find out that our very own Kerala’s Health Minister had made it to the first rank.
Thousands of votes are in, and it's time crown Prospect's Top Thinker 2020
It's Keralan health minister @shailajateacher
Get to know her & read the full results here—big shifts on race & gender in this year's top 10https://t.co/HuPvLDofVU pic.twitter.com/8SDwQYL51Y
— Tom Clark (@prospect_clark) September 2, 2020
Also Read : #Inspiration: UP’s Pratibha Verma Topped The UPSC Civil Services Exam Among Women Candidates. She Said She Wants To Work For Women Empowerment In Her Home State
Lauded for her efforts, thinking and will to flatten the Coronavirus curve, this is a woman being lauded for her foresight across the board. The magazine wrote in her honor, “Shailaja teacher was the right woman in the right place in 2020.” It also went on to say, “When Covid-19 was still ‘a China story’ in January, she not only accurately foresaw its inevitable arrival, but also fully grasped the implications. She rapidly got the WHO’s full ‘test, trace and isolate’ drill implemented in the state, and bought crucial time by getting a grip of the airports, and containing the first cases to arrive on Chinese flights.”
Top Thinker 2020: KK Shailaja Ranks First in List Compiled by British Magazine 'Prospect', Jacinda Ardern Second | Read full report #TopThinker2020 #KKShailaja @vijayanpinarayi @shailajateacher @jacindaardern https://t.co/qs4T3p9OoK
— LatestLY (@latestly) September 3, 2020
In fact, another UK newspaper – The Guardian also recognised Shailaja as a ‘coronavirus slayer’ and ‘rock star health minister’. To which, we whole heartedly agree. After K. K Shailaja, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden came in at second place, who too was commended for strong leadership after the Christchurch mosque massacre, and the kind of unfettering honesty and empathy she showed to the people of the country at the time.
Others who made it to the list included names like Esther Duflo, writer and several time Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel and environmentalist David Attenborough. But what caught our attention was the fact that a majority of the names on that list were of women, and that is the statistic that made all the difference.
