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