Team Chandrayaan leader Dr G Madhavan Nair is Malayala Manorama Newsmaker

Dr G Madhavan Nair, ISRO Chairman and leader of team Chandrayaan, has been elected as the Newsmaker of 2008 by the TV viewers of Kerala. The SMS voting event was organised by Manorama News, in association with Idea Cellular.

In the felicitation function organised on February 9, 2009, at Kanakakunnu Palace (Thiruvananthapuram), Union Minister for Defence, AK Antony, handed over the memento to Dr Nair. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Nair dedicated the achievement to the entire ISRO family and also his family. “As the space missions of countries like the US, Russia, etc., used to have 40 per cent failures, we were scared about the outcome of the whole project. But with the cent per cent dedication of each and every member of the team, the project became extremely successful. It has also opened up a horizon of opportunities to conduct further studies. India cannot refrain from such projects in today’s world and this by all means is a profitable project.”

On Idea Cellular’s association for this initiative, B Ramakrishna, COO, Idea Cellular, Kerala, said, “Idea is associating with this initiative of Manorama News for the second consecutive year and we are extremely impressed by the dedication and professionalism shown by Manorama News in making this election a successful venture.”

The voting, which spanned over 45 days, saw Dr Nair winning with a huge lead from a set of 12 Keralites across different fields who hit the headlines in 2008. Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, pace bowler S Sreesanth and actor Priya Mani (National Award winner) were the other contestants in the final round for this prestigious award.