Nitish Kumar 'Politician of the Year'

New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been named the 'CNN-IBN Politician of the Year-2008'.

According to a release by the channel, Nitish Kumar faced strong competition from his Delhi counterpart Sheila Dikshit, but eventually won the award 'for turning around one of the most under-developed states in India and showing that ultimately, every adversity crumbles in the face of vision, belief and resolve'.

The winners in other categories include Olympic shooting champion Abhinav Bindra for sports and Aamir Khan for entertainment.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G. Madhavan Nair and the team behind India's moon mission Chandrayaan have won awards in the public service category, while Aditya Puri of HDFC Bank topped in the business category.

The 'Global Indian' of the year went to A.R. Rahman 'for his music in 'Slumdog Millionaire' and compositions for hits like 'Ghajini', 'Jodhaa Akbar' and 'Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na'.