Anna Hazare, whose agitation for a strong authority to curb corruption has struck a responsive chord among thousands of Indians, has been named Yahoo India's top newsmaker of 2011.
He is followed by Mamta Banerjee and J. Jayalalithaa, who took over as chief ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu respectively after the April-May assembly elections, according to Yahoo's 2011 Year in Review, an annual compilation of the year's biggest trends, based on searches on the portal, plus a selection of what users read, recommended and shared most on the network.
India's 2011 cricket World Cup winning captain M.S. Dhoni is next on the list, and followed by B.S. Yedyurappa, who had to resign as the Bharatiya Janata Party's first chief minister in south India following his indictment in Karnataka's illegal mining scam.
The remaining five among the top 10 news makers were BJP leader L.K. Advani, police officer turned social activist Kiran Bedi, Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, boxer Sushil Kumar and Manipur's Iron Lady, Irom Sharmila.
Hazare was also the most searched person of the year and Lokpal bill the most searched word.
Sachin Tendulkar was the most searched sportperson and Katrina Kaif, the most sought after celebrity. The cricket World Cup was the event most netizens looked for and Samsung Galaxy Tab and Maruti Swift the gadget and the car of the year, respectively.
'Murder 2' was the most-searched film.
'No One Killed Jessica', 'Turning 30!!!', 'Yeh Saali Zindagi', 'Shor In The City', 'Ragini MMS', 'Shaitan', 'Delhi Belly', 'Bubble Gum', 'Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande' and 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster' were the top Bollywood films for Yahoo users.
Interestingly, cricket was not among the top three on the sports list, with these posts occupied by hockey, badminton star Saina Nehwal, and tennis players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.
However, it occupied six of the remaining slots with the World Cup, 'Hammering' England, Rahul Dravid, the Indian Premier League, and 'Obsession with records' on positions four to eight and spot-fixing at number 10.
The inaugural Indian FI Grand Prix occupied number 9.