Lead India's final encounter tomorrow

Mumbai, Feb 8 (UNI) The final encounter of Lead India finalists, Ahmedabad's Devang Nanavati and Bangalore's R K Misra, will be held in New Delhi tomorrow.

The episode, which will be aired live on Star One, will have a panel of esteemed guests including Arun Jaitley, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Jaipal Reddy, Ambika Soni, Nitish Kumar, Javed Akhtar, Kiran Bedi, Aruindum Sengupta and Sitaram Yechuri, a release said.

In the last episode, Misra's five-point agenda included focusing on education and health, with special emphasis on primary education and rural health, educating farmers on sustainable farming and rural employment generation, speeding up infrastructure and industrial development, review of laws dealing with terrorism and ensuring responsive governance and removal of corruption.

Kiran Bedi was not too happy with the manifesto and said that it offered nothing new and has no mention of important issues like police and electoral reforms. But Javed Akhtar thought otherwise, the release added.

Devang Nanavati's manifesto had similar points to Misra's - like stress on education, internal security as well as the need to focus on rural economy. He also put forth the point that sports other than cricket should be promoted and that it was necessary to create civic awareness in the society. His manifesto, though, did not appeal to all the judges and the episode ended in a close contest between the two finalists, the release said.

As the final battle brews on, Nanavati and Misra will be seen presenting their dream projects for India which they intend to undertake with the Rs 50-lakh prize money. Apart from the grand prize for the selected leader of India, other awards for outstanding performances through different missions in other episodes will also be given to the contenders.

The grand finale will also be the occasion to give away the Cheevening scholarship from the London University, previously announced by the British High Commissioner, to the three runner ups.

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