(This was published in Deccan Herald)
As we welcome a new year, let’s look back on the year gone
by. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, with sensations,
surprises and shrill reactions being the norm. We hope that in the New Year,
these storms too, shall pass, and more positive things will happen.
The Rio Olympics, the US presidential elections, and Pokemon
Go, the new real world mobile game, got the whole world, or at least the world
of Twitter, most excited in 2016. At Rio Olympics, records were broken and new
sport stars emerged. India’s women athletes’ stellar performances did the
country proud. American swimming legend Michael Phelps won his 23rd Gold Medal
and a career total of 28 medals to retire as the world’s most decorated
Olympian.
Defying widespread expectations, Donald Trump was elected
President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.
The US saw protests and talks of a rigged election, while several expressed
loss of faith in America’s political system. Donald Trump is expected to
withdraw military support to countries in Europe and Asia, unless adequate
compensation is provided. Trump has indicated a desire to ease tensions with
Russia, praising President Putin’s leadership, Trump has threatened to scrap several
existing free trade agreements with other countries, which he blames for
American job losses. Trump has said that he will “cancel” the Paris Climate
Agreement within 100 days of taking office and will strive to reverse climate
change regulations introduced by President Obama. On December 8th,
Trump sent a sealed letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, through the US
Secretary of Defence. The significance of this gesture will emerge in the days
to come.
On June 23rd, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European
Union in their "Brexit" referendum. Prime Minister David Cameron
resigned immediately, and Conservative Party MPs elected Theresa May as Prime
Minister.
Prime Minister Modi dominated the news by boldly ordering
cross-border surgical strikes against terror camps in Pakistan. On January 2,
seven bravehearts died thwarting a terrorist infiltration into Pathankot Air
Force station. In June, a CRPF convoy was attacked in Pampore, killing eight
Indian officers. In a dastardly attack in Uri on September 18th, militants
threw grenades on a brigade of sleeping Indian soldiers, killing 19. Pakistan
faced international censure. Eleven days later, Indian forces carried out
‘surgical strikes’ on terrorist camps across the border. They worked on
intelligence that these camps were planning terror attacks in Indian metros.
The strikes drew unequivocal public support. Even staunch
detractors, the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress and Arvind Kejriwal, calmed after
demanding “proof” of the strikes. Modi dedicated Diwali to the Indian soldier,
whose courage and sacrifice allowed the country to celebrate the festival in
security and peace.
On November 8, Modi made a surprise announcement
demonetising existing 500 and 1000 rupee notes in a bid to remove black money
and counterfeit cash for funding terrorists. But even after a month, many ATMs
and banks didn’t have adequate cash. Long queues were frequent, and people were
disappointed with packets of ten rupee coins or 2000 Rs notes, when they wanted
some other denomination. The general public, and daily business suffered. When The RBI is
supplying over thrice the normal amount of cash, how could this happen?
Hoarders diverting cash with the connivance of corrupt officials and money
launderers, are a key. Such a tremendous exercise has never been undertaken
anywhere. With no past guideposts, the government is tackling difficulties as they
arise. The planning is imperfect. At this stage, we cannot condemn
demonetisation as an utter failure. Nor can we expect a magic wand to instantly
end all corruption. Nobody doubts the good intentions of this measure. Let us
pray that issues are soon sorted out, and that demonetisation, combined with
other measures like tracking gold and real estate, yields the desired long-term
dividends in the war against corruption.
Demonetisation has brought more money transactions under the
scanner, and huge cases are already being investigated. Hundreds of crores of rupees in cash, and gold bars weighing hundreds of kilos have already been seized. The list of post demonetisation seizures is growing.
Meanwhile, 7,900 tribals of Attapady hills in Kerala and
residents of Ibrahimpur village, Siddipet Dist, Telangana, are among the
success stories of cashless transactions.
Are these news items evidence of a larger plan to
effectively battle corruption and black money? Are we ourselves ready to change
our time-honoured corruption-tolerant ways, and accept that we are the ultimate
sufferers? Will our elected representatives heed President Pranab Mukherjee’s
call and work constructively? “Disruption is totally unacceptable in
Parliamentary system,” the President said. “For God’s sake, do your job,” he
added, upbraiding the Opposition, and telling them that their disruptive
strategy amounted to “gagging of the majority” by the minority.
Corruption is deeply ingrained in India. The high and mighty
set an example with mega scams through the years, inspiring ordinary people to
resort to bribery and cheating wherever possible. It’s smart to flout rules.
Indians proved their ingenuity in a multi-million dollar scam relating to India
based call centres which cheated thousands of American citizens. Unfortunately,
their party ended in October when several Indians were charged by the US
Department of Justice for that scam. Will our own lawmakers and enforcers have
the same will and the public support to ensure justice?
On December 9th the CBI arrested former Air Force chief SP
Tyagi and two others for alleged corruption in the Rs 3,600 crore Augusta
Westland VVIP choppers deal, which was scrapped on January 1, 2014, over
charges of kickbacks of Rs 423 crore. We hope the truth will come out, and
justice will prevail in this, and other past mega-scams.
In 2016, War and terrorism continued to trouble our planet.
On March 5th, an US air strike killed 150 Al-Shabaab militants near Mogadishu,
Somalia. As refugees continued to pour out from war torn West Asia, Macedonia,
Slovenia and Croatia closed their borders from March 9th. ISIS suicide bombings
in Brussels killed nearly 30 and injured over 200. Taliban connected
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar suicide bombers killed over 70 in a park in Lahore on 27th
March. ISIS backed Suicide bombings at Brussels killed 28 and injured 260.
April brought hope, when an UN-backed cease-fire eased
conflict in Yemen between government forces and Houthis rebels supported by
Iran. However, in May, three ships carrying refugees across the Mediterranean,
sank killing over 700. On June 12th, a gunman claiming loyalty to the Islamic
State went on a rampage at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Nearly 50
people were killed and an equal number wounded.
In June, suicide bombers and gunmen attacked Istanbul's
Ataturk Airport. 42 people were killed and over 200 wounded. In July, Islamic
militants attacked a cafe in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 20 hostages and 2 police
officials were killed. In July, a lorry bomb killed over 125 and wounded 150 in
Baghdad. Islamic State claimed responsibility.
2016 saw welcome strides in gender parity. Indian women
excelled in the Rio Olympics. Sakshi Malik fought valiantly for a bronze medal
in wrestling. P V Sindhu earned a sparkling badminton silver. Dipa Karmakar won
the nation’s heart by finishing 4th, missing a medal by a whisker. She became
the first Indian female gymnast, and the first Indian in 52 years, to compete
in the Olympics. Woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat reached the quarterfinals, but an
injury made her miss a medal. In another first, the CRPF deployed a team of 135
women commandos to tackle Naxalite insurgents in Jharkhand. Meanwhile, the BMJ
Open Report tracking four million people around the world for ever a century,
showed that women were now almost as likely to drink alcohol as men. In June,
US Defence Secretary Ashton B. Carter lifted the ban on transgendered people
serving in the US military.
Technology continued to amaze. The first flower in space, a
zinnia, was grown aboard the International Space Station using NASA Veggie
system. In April, the first baby with DNA from three parents was born in
Mexico, facilitated by mitochondrial transfer. In October, researchers in
Madrid developed a robot teacher that can sense when children are distracted in
class, and respond by encouraging them. A driverless truck built by Uber’s unit
Otto used cameras, radars and sensors, to travel 200 kilometres in the USA with
a cargo of beer. Will humans be outsmarted and rendered obsolete by superior
machines? That possibility loomed as Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence
won Go challenge against Lee Se-dol.
Environmental degradation remained a burning issue. Climate
change and increased acidity in the oceans, has brought the 25 million years
old Great Barrier Reef in the Pacific Ocean on the brink of extinction. This
UNESCO designated World Heritage site is the world’s oldest and largest living
structure, and the only one visible from space. Much of the corals forming the
reef are now dead or dying. UNESCO has listed 55 of the world’s 1,052 heritage
sites as under risk from wars, natural disasters, poaching, pollution and
uncontrolled tourism.
A report by World Wide Fund and other organisations indicate
that half of India’s wildlife is on the verge of extinction. The Living Planet
Index shows a dramatic decline of 58% between 1970 and 2012. The big picture
pieced together from small news items, is chilling. In August Anthrax, caused
by global warming, broke out in Siberia killing one person and infecting
several others. 2,300 reindeer also died. The Royal Society Open Science
journal published the chilling findings of 15 top conservational scientists.
300 odd wild mammal species in Asia, Africa and Latin America are dying out
thanks to humanity’s greed for bush meat.
Closer home, our government declared the unprecedented
levels of air pollution in Delhi an emergency situation in November. Schools and construction sites were
temporarily shut down. The dramatic increase in toxic particles in the air, was
due to increase in construction, toxic fume emitting vehicles, noisy and
polluting crackers during Diwali, and burning of leaves and crop wastes.
As individuals, we
can make a difference by switching to public transport or car pools. Composting
and reducing non-bio-degradable wastes will definitely help. Let’s strive to
use less plastics and generate less waste during all celebrations. On April 10th, firecrackers caused a deadly
explosion at Puttingal Temple in Kerala.
In memory of the over 100 who died, and the 400 injured in this tragedy,
we hope firecrackers will be banned.
Eminent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking rightly
observed that this is the most dangerous time for our planet. We cannot go on
ignoring inequality, because we have the means to destroy our world, but not to
escape it. Technology is making many labour intensive jobs, and even some
traditional industries obsolete. This will increase the rich-poor divide, as
large populations migrate to other cities and countries to eke out a living.
In the year gone by, astronomers announced the discovery of
an earth-like planet named Proxima B, orbiting star Proxima Centauri. An
eminent group of international scientists and entrepreneurs, including Stephen
Hawking and Mark Zuckerburg, announced a project to send robot spacecraft to
our nearest star, Alpha Centauri. If we insist upon fighting among ourselves
and destroying our planet, at least the survivors can hope to find and reach
new worlds to exploit and lay waste.
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BOX: obituaries
Many prominent people passed away in 2016. May their souls
rest in peace.
Leaders
J Jayalalithaa, Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Fidel Castro, founder of the Western hemisphere’s first
communist state in Cuba.
Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand.
Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel. Nobel Peace
Prize winner.
Science, Arts, Literature, Sports :
Leonard Cohen, American music icon.
Prince, pop music megastar. Purple Rain, Little Red
Corvette.
David Bowie, British rock superstar.
Veteran Carnatic Music exponent Balamuralikrishna.
Eminent Author and social activist Mahasweta Devi. Winner of
the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Padma Shree, the Jnanpith, the Magsaysay Award,
and Deshikottam Award.
Writer and futurist Alvin Toffler. The Third Wave, Future
Shock, Revolutionary Wealth.
Muhammad Ali, former heavyweight world champion.
Manohar Aich, India’s first Mr Universe.
