MUMBAI: Arvind Kejriwal, the new poster boy for the crusade against corruption, has knocked off mentor Anna Hazare from the position to become Top Newsmaker in India for 2012, according to Yahoo! India?s Year in Review 2012 (YIR).

From shaking up the very foundations of the Indian government to stirring up controversy by the week, Arvind reached the height of his online popularity this year.

YIR reflects topics that dominate the daily online habits of Indian Net users across 15 categories. This combines search trends with the editorial selection of what users read, recommended and shared most on the Yahoo! network in India during 2012.

Sunny Leone, Indo-Canadian adult movie star, became the Most Searched Celebrity on the Net for 2012, ahead of Bollywood?s leading ladies, thanks to her controversial entry into Bollywood with Big Boss 5 and Jism 2.

The London Games 2012 saw India?s biggest Olympic medal haul, equaling the collective tally of India?s previous seven
campaigns in this global event. Little wonder then that Olympics Bronze medalist boxer Mary Kom was chosen Yahoo! India?s ?Person of the Year?.

After being chosen as the best non-model on the ramp by Yahoo! users last year, ?Mr. Dependable? Virat Kohli became 2012?s Performer of the Year, coming in straight at the top of the list of
Cricketers of the Year.

Interestingly, Aishwarya Rai?s post pregnancy weight gain fueled a hefty share of Internet gossip, making her the Celebrity in the News for 2012, ahead of the Khans, Kapoors and Katrina Kaif.

Newly wed couples Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor were the most sought after Celebrity Couple in India. Amitabh Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor expectedly topped the list of Best Dressed Celebrities. But unusual suspect Ekta Kapoor rose straight to the top of this year?s Worst Dressed list, with Mallika Sherawat tailing her at a close second.

The dark cloud surrounding India?s airline carriers made the turbulence of the sky one of the Top News Stories of the Year. The Coalgate scam, Apple-Samsung war, fall of the Indian rupee and the much-awaited Facebook IPO also made it to this list.

iPhone 5 dominated the list of Top Tech Stories for 2012. Pinterest, crowdfunding and the sale of Instagram were among the other topics tech aficionados could not get enough of.

Other themes which dominated the daily habits of online users in India included news on style trends, health & fitness and top travel destinations.

Top News Makers
1. Arvind Kejriwal
2. Narendra Modi
3. Malala Yousafzai
4. Akhilesh Yadav
5. Robert Vadra
6. Salman Khurshid
7. Rajat Gupta
8. Barak Obama
9. Manmohan Singh
10. Nitin Gadkari
11. Khaps
12. Yuvraj Singh

Indian news events of the year
1. Turbulence of the sky
2. Maruti Suzuki?s Manesar strike
3. Is Infosys losing its charm?
4. Apple-Samsung war
5. Indian rupee?s fall against the dollar
6. Coalgate scam
7. GAAR implementation postponed
8. Deregulation of Fuel prices
9. Summary of Union Budget 2012
10. Facebook IPO
11. Big Bang reforms to rescue India
12. Cancellation of 2G licenses

Celebrities who made news
1. Aishwarya?s weight gain
2. Sunny Leone
3. Poonam Pandey
4. Saifeena
5. Sherlyn Chopra
6. Priyanka Chopra
7. Sridevi
8. Shahrukh Khan
9. Ranbir Kapoor
10. Aamir Khan
11. Kangana Ranaut
12. Katrina Kaif

Top 12 tech stories
1. iPhone 5 and the iPad mini
2. Google glass
3. Facebook IPO
4. Facebook buys Instagram
5. Crowdfunding comes of age
6. SOPA Blackout
7. Google driverless car
8. Pinterest
9. Apple wins copyright infringement
10. Cloud computing
11. Facebook blows past a billion users and other social media player keep growing
12. Microsoft debuts the Surface

Cricketers of the year
1. Virat Kohli
2. Rahul Dravid
3. VVS Laxman
4. Kevin Pietersen
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. Yuvraj Singh
7. Unmukt Chand
8. Chris Gayle
9. Mark Boucher
10. Andrew Strauss
11. Kumar Sangakkara
12. Simon Taufel

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Although Colors has assured the self-regulatory industry body Broadcasting Contents Complaints Council (BCCC) that the contract of Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone will be terminated if she does not stop promotion of the channel or Bigg Boss 5 on her website, the matter is far from over.

A BCCC source told indiantelevision.com that the reply of the channel would be placed before the chairperson of BCCC, Justice KL Shah, and other members to take a final view. The source did admit, however, that there was no vulgarity in the daily reality show which is to be wind up in about two weeks.

Earlier, a Colors spokesperson clarified the position following the self-regulatory body asking the channel to take Leone out of the series, which she had entered on 21 November.

The channel said that Sunny Leone had been asked in the past to not use Colors or Bigg Boss Season 5 in any form.And now we have decided to write letter to her informing that in case reference to Bigg Boss Season 5 are not removed from her website, we shall immediately terminate her contract and evict her from Bigg Boss House," it said.

The spokesperson said the channel had clarified its position to the BCCC, which "agreed with our position that content on the show is in compliance with self-regulatory guidelines."

"BCCC also appreciated that there is no evidence to suggest that there is any link between Colors and cross promotion of Bigg Boss Season 5 on Sunny Leone?s sites," Colors said.

However, the spokesperson added that "BCCC requested us to use our commercial endeavours to persuade Sunny Leone to not use Bigg Boss Season 5 or Colors on her websites, and we assured BCCC of our efforts on the same".

The BCCC set up by the Indian Broadcasters Foundation (IBF) had reacted after considering 19 complaints, asking Colors TV to stop by December 26 all cross promotion of Leone?s pornographic sites and videos - something she is reported to have done since she appeared on the show.

hile anyone was free to appear on any show, the regulator said no one could promote their business through it, particularly when it is illegal under Indian law.

National Commission for Minorities Chairman Wajahat Habibullah who represented the body on the BCCC said, "We all agreed that Sunny Leone has been using Bigg Boss on Colors to promote pornography which is classified as criminal activity in India. Therefore, she can not be allowed to use our television to promote her business. Colors has agreed to comply and report back on steps taken."

The petition on which the Council gave its ruling detailed how Leone?s adult website stated that she is on Bigg Boss and lures people to "see why the world is obsessed with her?"

Leone?s pornographic product is linked to twitter where an entire team of dummy tweeters (on her behalf) create consistent engagement and product sales of her videos even while she is on Bigg Boss. She authors a daily blog where video postings, procured from Bigg Boss 5 producers are being openly cross promoted. She has posted on her Twitter ID - which has 86,000 followers - that mobile applications of her hard porn products are available via email and has given an address.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Artistes and Actors Forum (IAAF) today objected to the introduction of porn star Sunny Leone in the popular television reality show ?Bigg Boss 5? on Colors.

In a complaint to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the IAAF said Minister Ambika Soni should taken stringent action against the channel for indirectly encouraging and promoting pornography in India.

IAAF Spokesperson Flynn Remedios said, "Sunny Leone has proclaimed on her website ?as seen on Bigg Boss 5?, but the website is nothing but a hard core porn site and there is no mechanism to stop minors from accessing the website. We have e-mailed the complaint to the minister as well as sent the same by registered post to her office."

The complaint said: "We are an informal body of actors and artistes (including singers, musicians, etc) all connected with the Film and Television industry. We would like to place on record through this correspondence our official complaint regarding the indirect promotion of adult content and pornography by TV Channel Colors via the introduction of adult porn star Sunny Leone in their popular TV Reality Show Bigg Boss Season 5."

"Several newspapers have reported on this trend and phenomenon and our own research has found out that thousands of youth including minors who were earlier not aware of Sunny Leone?s status or profession have been specifically searching for her photographs, biodata, etc on the internet and are exposed to hard core pornographic content including photographs and videos on the internet, the moment they type out her name on any search engine like Google.

"This is only because she is seen on the show Bigg Boss 5 and viewers would like to know more about her. Even her website which proclaims Sunny Leone "as seen on Bigg Boss 5" is a hard-core porn website offering pornographic content to users. Though it has an option asking viewer to exit if they are below 18, there is no mechanism to ensure that viewers below 18 do not view the pornographic content on sunnyleone dot com."

In its letter, the IAFF said: "It is our contention that TV channel Colors was aware of this possibility and knowingly chose to introduce an adult porn star into a TV programme which is watched by people of all age groups. By introducing Sunny Leone in their TV programme, TV Channel Colors is indirectly promoting a pornographic website www.sunnyleone dot com and is in blatant violation of Indian Television laws.

"We request you to take immediate and stringent action for this violation of the Broadcast code and ensure that other TV channels in future do not introduce porn actors in family shows."