Dawood along with saints, sinners on Forbes power list

POWER EMPIRE: Dawood runs a multi-million dollar international criminal empire.

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New Delhi: Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, No. 1 on India’s most wanted men list, is ranked No. 50 in Forbes magazine’s list of 'The World's Most Powerful People'.

Forbes described Dawood--a global terrorist according to the US and whom India blames for the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts--as the “boss of Mumbai-based organised crime syndicate D-Company”.

The magazine says he runs an international drug trafficking, counterfeiting and weapons smuggling empire and is suspected to have links with the al-Qaeda.

Forbes editors say they went by four broad parameters to make their list: does the person have influence over lots of other people, financial resources controlled by these individuals, if they are powerful in multiple and do they actively use their power.

“Power has been called many things. The ultimate aphrodisiac. An absolute corrupter. A mistress. A violin. But its true nature remains elusive. After all, a head of state wields a very different sort of power than a religious figure. Can one really compare the influence of a journalist to that of a terrorist? And is power unexercised power at all?” say the editor in the introduction to their ‘power list’.

“Pope Benedict XVI, ranked 11th on our list, is the spiritual leader of more than a billion souls, or about one-sixth of the world's population, while Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke (No. 8) is the largest private-sector employer in the United States,” says the magazine while describing the first parameter.

Based on these parameters, Forbes puts Minister Manmohan Singh No. 36 one the list--one rank above fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

US President Barack Obama has been ranked No 1. He is followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao--Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is ranked No. 3. Former US president George W Bush is not on the list.

Reliance Industries Ltd chief Mukesh Ambani is ranked No. 44, Lakshmi Mittal No. 55, and Ratan Tata No. 59.

Is the list definitive? No, says Forbes. “This ranking is intended to be the beginning of a conversation, not the final word.”