New faces that made a mark in 2017

Manushi Chhillar, 20, became the sixth Indian Miss World on November 18. The winner hails from Haryana and is a medical student. She dropped out for one whole year to prepare for the pageant. Her journey began in June when she was crowned fbb Colors Femina Miss India World 2017.The entire country congratulated and appreciated her accomplishment on social media. Manushi is a classical dancer, writes poetry and loves paragliding, bungee jumping, snorkelling and scuba diving.

Hardik Patel is an Indian social activist who came into limelight for mobilising the reservation demand for Patidar. The Congress heavily depended on Patel during 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections as his rallies attracted big crowd, especially in Saurashtra, which is dominated by the Patels or Patidar community.

Patel, 24, a B.Com graduate comes from an average middle-class Patidar family in Viramgam. Currently, he is the convener of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS). On November 13, 2017, Hardik got involved in a controversy as two sex video clips, which allegedly showed him with an unknown woman went viral on the social media. But the authenticity of both the video clips could not be verified.

Infosys appointed Salil S Parekh as its CEO and MD replacing Vishal Sikka who had an acrimonious exit. Parekh is the second outsider CEO at Infosys and comes to the company after a long stint with French IT and consulting company Capgemini. Parekh, who has an engineering degree in aeronautics from IIT Bombay, has also completed his masters in computer science and mechanical engineering from Cornell University. He was a partner in global tax and audit firm Ernst & Young between 1992 and 2000 in financial services. He joined Capgemini in 2000 as a result of the acquisition of the consulting division of Ernst and Young.

The left-arm wrist-spinner from Uttar Pradesh made his Test, ODI and T20I debuts in 2017 and had a starring role for Team India in each format. On Test debut, he helped beat Australia in the deciding match in Dharamsala as India regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In his ninth ODI, Kuldeep claimed India’s first hat-trick since 1991 when he stunned Australia at Eden Gardens.

Jignesh Mevani, 36, is a lawyer, a social activist and a supporter of Congress. He came to light after he led a campaign by Dalits. He won from Vadgam in Banaskantha in Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections defeating his nearest BJP rival, Vijay Chakravarti by a margin of more than 19,000 votes. Mevani's stature grew swiftly after the Una atrocity in 2016 - the flogging of four Dalit youths who were falsely accused of killing a cow. He established himself as a Dalit leader and led a 330 km protest march from Ahmedabad to Una in Saurashtra. (PTI photo)

Emmanuel Macron became the President of France in April 2017. Before entering politics, Macron served as a civil servant in the country, and an investment banker. Macron was 39 years old when he became the president – the youngest in the history of France. Macron supported a liberal and progressive political movement in the country which gave him immense media coverage and support of the masses. (AFP photo)

The England wonder kid ended the FIFA Under 17 World Cup as the tournament's top scorer after netting his eighth goal in England’s 5-2 final win over Spain. Brewster scored hat-tricks against USA and Brazil and won the Golden Boot.

Udaipur boy Kalpit Veerwal became the first ever in the country to score 100%, or full marks of 360, to top the prestigious Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2017 for IITs and other engineering colleges. Veerwal, who is now studying Computer Science at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, even made it to the Limca Book of Records for his feat. His record of the perfect score will feature under the "Education Achievements" category of the 2018 edition. "I did not study for 15 hours a day, I did not go down the usual 'Kota route' for IIT preparations but consistent studies helped me a lot," Veerwal said.

Five-time BJP MLA Jai Ram Thakur edged past party stalwarts to become the 14th chief minister of Himachal Pradesh. He is the first leader from the politically-significant Mandi region to occupy the CM's post in the hill state. Jai Ram Thakur is a former state BJP unit chief who had previously held the post of rural development and panchayati raj minister in a government headed by Prem Kumar Dhumal. (On the right) (PTI photo)

In his breakout year, the German tennis star won two Masters, beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic and reached a career-high ranking of No 3. The 20-year-old became the youngest player to win an ATP Masters event in 10 years when he won Rome for his third title of the year. (USA TODAY Sports photo)