Offtrack

2015: Looking Back

by Trans World Features 30 Dec 2015, 06:06 am

As the world gears up to flip away the last page of the calendar, TWF/IBNS correspondent Supriyo Hazra looks back to spot the most crucial events of 2015

Obama visits India as Chief Guest for Republic Day: The year began with India receiving a high-profile  guest for the Republic Day as US President Barack Obama visited the nation on the occasion. Obama joined Indian PM Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee in witnessing the colourful Republic Day as Indians gave a colourful tribute to the nation and its identity as a democratic republic. One high-point of Obama’s visit to the Asian nation was when he joined Modi in his signature monthly radio programme “Mann Ki Baat”.

 
Return of the Muffler Man: In a high-voltage ballot battle, Arvind Kejriwal-led his party to script a strong victory and captured the Delhi Assembly for the second time since its inception. The AAP, which earlier was in power in Delhi for 49 days with Congress support before Kejriwal resigned in Feb 2014, swept the polls in Delhi this time by winning a record number of 67 of the total 70 seats. Promising to deliver in its five-year tenure, Arvind Kejriwal took oath as the Chief Minister of the national capital for the second time on February 14.  The AAP found itself in rough weather when senior leaders like Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhusan were removed from the party.

Modi’s world tour: Narendra Modi followed his own diplomatic style and visited several nations, including Pakistan on December 25, this year. He made 27 trips and visited 25 nations in the year. His frequent foreign visits have been slammed by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and even Congress vice-President Rahul Gandhi.   Modi used the visits also to connect with Indian diaspora in several nations like the UK and USA.

 
Jaya gets relief: Reversing a judgement of conviction by a trial court earlier, the Karnataka High Court this year acquitted former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case going back to more than 18 years, thus paving the way for her return as the Chief Minister of the southern state.

Sushma, Vasundhara hit the Lalit gate: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje found themselves in the middle of a controversy for their  alleged close ties with former IPL chief Lalit Modi. Amid continuous attack by the Congress, Swaraj said she never recommended travel documents for Lalit Modi.

Modi leads the way on International Yoga Day: Prime Minister Narendra Modi –led  India in observing the first International Day of Yoga on June 21 as he himself performed asanas in New Delhi while many other nations performed the ancient health care exercise on the same day. As the first International Day of Yoga was celebrated across the amid a fanfare India set up two Guinness World Records with 35,985 people participating in performing asanas at a single venue in Rajpath and 84 nationalities joining in the official observation of the day.
 

Debate on intolerance: A debate on intolerance shook the entire nation with even celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan voicing their concerns and triggering a huge political debate in 2015. The country witnessed some turbulent moment when several artists and other intellectuals returned the awards they had received from the government as a show of protests against the alleged incidents of intolerance. The entire debate started when in September a mob had lynched  Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh amid rumours that he had stored beef in his house. After remaining silent for a long time, PM Narendra Modi broke his silence on the issue and said his government will not tolerate intolerance in any part of India.

Nitish Kumar sweeps Bihar polls: After several months of barb exchanges between the BJP, including PM Narendra Modi, and Nitish Kumar, the Bihar CM led the Grand Alliance to a landslide victory in Bihar assembly polls this year. The grand alliance, which  comprised JD(U), RJD and Congress, decimated the BJP. Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar on Nov 20.
 

Scrapping of 66A: In a significant order given this year, the Supreme Court scrapped the Section 66 of the Information Technology Act 2000 that allowed arrests for offensive contents online. 

India captures space again: In its thirty first flight (PSLV-C30) India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle onSeptember 28  successfully launched ASTROSAT, the country's Multi Wavelength Space Observatory along with six foreign customer satellites into a 644.6 X 651.5 km orbit inclined at an angle of 6 degree to the equator. ASTROSAT is India’s first dedicated multi wavelength space observatory. This scientific satellite mission endeavours for a more detailed understanding of our universe.  ASTROSAT is designed to observe the universe in the Visible, Ultraviolet, low and high energy X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum simultaneously with the help of its five payloads.

The juvenile dilemma: Amid protests by the parents of 2012 Delhi gangrape victim and repeated attempts to stop the move, the juvenile, who was an offender in the case, was released on Dec 20. The  Delhi high court earlier refused to stay his release stating that there is lack of any legal provision to intervene. All hopes were shattered on December 21 when the Supreme Court rejected a petition challenging  his release. The convict  was treated as a juvenile as per the existing law as he was a minor when the crime took place. He is currently kept under the care of an  NGO.
 
Peter-Indrani story:  What is considered to be one of the biggest murder mysteries of the year, media tycoon Peter Mukherjea and his wife Indrani Mukherjea were arrested over the murder of Sheena Bora, daughter of Indrani from an earlier marriage.  Indrani was arrested in August, days after the remains of Sheena Bora - her daughter - were found in the Raigad forest 80 km from Mumbai. Sheena was strangled in 2012 allegedly by Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna and driver Shyam Rai. Khanna and Rai are also under arrest. Peter Mukerjea was arrested after Indrani Mukerjea's conflicting statements reportedly led the CBI to believe that he was aware of the plot to kill his step-daughter, who he claims was known to him as the sister of Indrani.

Nepal rocked by massive earthquake: April 25, 2015 will be marked as one of the catastrophic days in the history of Nepal as the country was jolted by a massive earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale. The quake killed 9000 people in Nepal alone. Several after shocks kept hitting the nation for several days, triggering panic in the hearts of people living in the Himalayan nation.  An Avalanche on Mount Everest was also triggered by the April 25 earthquake claimed 19 lives. Neighbouring nations like India, China, Bangladesh even felt tremors and left several people dead.

 
Afghanistan shaken: Fears returned again as an earthquake, measuring  7.5 on the Richter Scale rattled the Afghanistan, Pakistan and India on October 26. The epicenter of the earthquake which was located at Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan killed as many as 115 in Afghanistan, 279 in Pakistan and 4 people in India.

 
Floods ravage Chennai: Surprising many and hitting normal life in the city, Chennai was at the helm of headlines as massive floods ravaged it at the end of the year. The annual Northeast Monsoons in the month of November-December 2015, brought in unprecedented heavy rain falls in several parts of Tamil Nadu, including capital Chennai,  and left at least 400 people dead. From leaving several people homeless to stopping flight operation in the Chennai airport due to massive water-logging on the runway, Chennai was locked down for several days as the Indian Army carried out a significant operation to rescue people from the rain-hit state.

 
Paris Painted Red: The city of art and love witnessed some dark days this year as terrorists targeted Paris twice and left scores killed during the attacks with one being in French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters.  2015 began on a tragic note as on January 7, shooters attacked the headquarters of the newspaper and killed 11 people. People from all over the world protested against this attack but that did not stop the nation from receiving another massive blow when a series of bomb attacks and shootings killed at least 150 people in Paris on November  13. Compared by many with the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the November 13 carnage left more than 300 people injured.

 Apart from Paris, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ankara (Turkey), Baghdad, Iraq, Kenya, Yemen and Nigeria experienced terrorist attacks in 2015. In Bangladesh, incidents like killing of bloggers , foreigners and attack on mosques  kept the country on the top of global headlines. Even as the government rejected claims of the presence of militant group ISIS in the nation, several organizations, including SITE Intelligence Group, have named the group as being behind such deadly attacks.
 

In India,  Gurdaspur witnessed a bloody day when militants, who were later identified by intelligence agencies as belonging to Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, attacked a police station in the area.

 

And They Left Us:

APJ Abdul Kalam: India lost one of its favourite children when former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam passed away on July 27.  He collapsed on stage after a massive cardiac arrest while giving a lecture at the  Indian Institute of Management in Shillong. He was 83 when death came.

Sister Nirmala:  Sister Nirmala, the second Mother Superior of Missionaries of Charity (MoC) founded by late Nobel laureate Mother Teresa, died at age 80 in June this year.

Aruna Shanbaug: Aruna Shanbaug, a former nurse who lived in a vegetative state in a Mumbai hospital since her brutal sexual assault in 1973 on its premises and was a subject of debate on euthanasia in India, died on May 18, ending an ordeal of 42 years.

Suchitra Bhattacharya: Bengali writer Suchitra Bhattacharya , whose novels reflected contemporary social issues and many were adapted on celluloid as successful films, died in Kolkata on May 12.

RK Laxman: Cartoonist RK Laxman, whose   creations have been appreciated by people for generations, passed away in Pune on Jan 26.

Suvra Mukherjee: The Indian First Lady, Suvra Mukherjee, wife of President Pranab Mukherjee, breathed her last in New Delhi  on August 17.She was 74.

Saeed Jaffrey : Creating a deep void in the world of Indian cinema, Bollywood actor Saeed Jaffrey, who had also appeared in several international films, passed away on Nov 15. He was 86.

Sadhana: The year ended on a tragic note as Indian movie lovers bid adieu to yesteryear Bollywood beauty Sadhana on December 25. The 74-year-old top Bollywood heroines of the 1960s was known for her fringe-on-the-forehead hairstyle inspired by Audrey Hepburn. She had set a trend in hairstyle among women of that era in India.
 

Aadesh Shrivastava: Losing a battle against cancer,  Bollywood singer-composer Aadesh Shrivastava died at a Mumbai hospital on September 5. He was 51.

Jagmohan Dalmiya: One of the best known cricket administrators, Jagmohan Dalmiya passed away on Sept 20, aged 75. His funeral in Kolkata was attended by thousands, who flocked in numbers to pay tribute to the cricket boss.

Richie Benaud: The Cricket world lost one of the finest voices on the morning of April 10, when 85-year old Richard ‘Richie’ Benaud passed away. He was diagnosed with skin cancer.