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Too little, too late
MS Liberhan Commission Report came out finally on July 1, after 17 years and 48 extensions! The report indicts the Sangh Parivar, the BJP and its leader LK Advani for conspiring to demolish the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. While it holds LK Advani responsible on account of his Rath Yatra and failure to control the mobs he had mobilised during the Yatra, it has come out harsher on  Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal and Vinay Katiyar.
At the same time the report has criticised the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao for inaction and sleeping through the demolition. Justice Liberhan, who was a judge of Punjab and Haryana high court during the demolition, has claimed that the delay in the findings had been due to the lack of cooperation from a few people.

Gay day
It was a watershed day in Indian society when the Delhi High Court, acting on a petition of gay advocacy group Naz Foundation, ruled in July that the existing law against homosexuality was a ‘violation of fundamental rights’. While advocacy groups hailed it as a milestone on the road to India becoming a freer society, religious groups created furor that it will lead to erosion of Indian cultural values.

Israel attacks Gaza strip
In an unprecedented fashion Israel launched armed attack on the Palestinians in the Gaza strip between December end (2008) and early January 2009. Israel entered Gaza with its men and machine. Various human rights organisations claimed that Israel was violating international human rights laws during its offensive. Israel justified its position by stating that it was attempting to save its citizens from rocket launches from Gaza. By the end of third day 312 Palestinians had died according to Hamas, of which the UN says 57 were civilians. In firing of two weeks, 770 Palestinians and 14 Israelis had lost lives.

The attack was aimed at weakening the political organisation Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007. Dozens of centres of Hamas strength, including security compounds, government offices, a university and tunnels into Egypt, have been hit since Israel started its massive bombing campaign. According to a BBC report defence minister Ehud Barak said Israel was not fighting the people of Gaza but was in “a war to the bitter end” with Hamas.

The UN Security council called for a ceasefire and urged for finding lasting solution to the conflict. But Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel would continue to act bearing the security of its citizens in mind. Hamas had announced a week-long truce on January 18.

Omar is the CM
The northernmost state went for polls towards the end of 2008. Omar Abdullah, son of former chief minister and patron of NC Farooq Abdullah, became the new CM of Jammu and Kashmir. NC formed the government in coalition with the Congress. Farooq Abdullah said that he will pursue his career at the national and international levels and Jammu and Kashmir is a small canvas for him. The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) saw a phenomenal rise in Jammu region owing to the Amarnath row in August 2008. It increased its seat share from one in 2002 to 11 in 2008.

The 52 per cent voter’s turnout in seven phase elections signalled that people of Jammu and Kashmir are tired of militancy and are looking forward to democratic process to establish itself strongly. A large number of people came out to vote despite a boycott call given by the separatists. The incidents of violence were also very few and nothing major was reported, quite unlike the elections in the past.

The highest number of contestants (393), highest number of independent contestants (151) and highest number of women contestants (31) competed in the seventh phase, which made it the most highlighted one. Seats won by each party: NC: 28 PDP: 21 Congress: 17 BJP: 11 Others: 10

Omar messes up
It’s touted as end of honeymoon period for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, as he made his maiden mistake of his tenure by calling the rape and death of two women in Shopian, ‘death by drowning’. Kashmir flared up instantly. The hardline separatist organisation Hurriyat, led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani, was quick to capitalise on his mistake and called for Kashmir strike. Police firing on protestors led to 40 people being injured. Abdullah, sensing he had erred, called for a probe and admitted things had gone wrong initially. But the opposition party PDP was quick to retort, claiming what truth could come out of a probe when the CM had already dubbed the twin tragedies as ‘deaths by drowning’? The relatives of the deceased women alleged that the security forces were behind this crime. The incident created a huge dent in Omar’s popularity in the very first year of his chief ministership.

Punjab caste conflict echoes in Vienna
Clash between two Sikh sects in a far-off European cultural hub of Vienna sparked off violent clashes in Punjab. The genesis of the trouble in a place identified with Mozart and not with Sikh cult clashes, lies in the growing popularity of a sect called Dera Sachkhand Ballan, set up in the name of Sant Ravidass. It has established gurdwaras across Europe and North America, which has essentially meant donations from a sizeable Sikh population being diverted to the chain of gurdwaras they have set up. In Vienna, where only one gurdwara existed before, controlled by hardliners, the sect set up a gurdwara on the same street. The new gurdwara eroded the devotee base of the old one, leading to tensions over control of offerings and fatal attack on the head of the sect controlling new gurdwara, Sant Niranjan Dass.

As violence flared up in Punjab, two protestors were killed and 14 were injured. Curfew had to be clamped in six Punjab towns. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh appealed to the various sects to exercise restraint for restoring peace.

Election 'n' its aftermath
Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory the Iranian election in June  sparked off violence in the country, as the defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi called for cancellation of election, calling it a “dangerous charade”. While Afghanistan and Iraq called the result suitable selection and the US, as was expected, cast doubts over the results, Ahmadinejad called the protests in the country “not important”. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei asked the protesters to show restraint and accept the results. The Iranian security forces came down heavily on the people on the streets. More than 20 people were killed and large-scale arrests were made.

Israel blinks
Israel agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, albeit with some crucial riders. These conditions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are, as expected, unacceptable to Palestinians: That the new nation would have no army and that the Palestinians would recognise Israel as a Jewish state. The government sources, as well as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak dubbed it “killing of any chance for peace,” even as a cautious White House dubbed it an “important step forward”. The demand that Palestinians recognise Israel as a Jewish state is unacceptable to Palestinians as it would rule out the return of those Palestinian refugees who were forced to flee Israel when it came into existence in 1948.

Old wounds
The phantom of 1984 anti-Sikh riots came back to embarrass the Congress at the height of election campaign. The clean chit given by the CBI to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in that massacre opened old wounds and an angry journalist Jarnail Singh from ‘Dainik Jagaran’ threw his shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram during a press conference in New Delhi. While the newspaper quickly announced suitable action would be taken against its employee, Chidambaram, and the Congress, had no option but to forgive the journalist. It also led to rethinking within the Congress about the ramifications of giving ticket to Tytler and Sajjan Kumar. The damage control by the party by withdrawing tickets, notwithstanding, why did the Congress hurry in the first place in projecting the tainted leaders as candidates, and risking alienating Sikhs once again? 

Chopper chopping
Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy died in a helicopter crash in early September. In a dramatic fashion a helicopter carrying Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy, two of his staff and two pilots went missing on September 3 and there was no news till morning next day. Media reports claimed the chopper had technical problems and that the flight should not have taken off at all. There were problems with the aircraft, Bell 430, which did not get its certificate of airworthiness (CoA) renewed during the last two years. The nine-seater twin-engine chopper was built in 1998 and had flown over 3,000 hours. The metrological department had forecast not only heavy rainfall but a likelihood of fierce lightning and thunderstorms. However, the 60-year-old politician was adamant. He was to kickstart a new village mass-contact programme called Rachabanda from Chittoor district and he plainly refused to disband his appointment.
Apart from Reddy, the chopper was carrying principal secretary to CM S Subrahmanyam and YSR’s chief security officer ASC Wesley. The craft was being piloted by group captain S K Bhatia and captain M S Reddy.

With YSR’s death the run for the post of CM began in AP Congress. YSR loyalists pitched for his son Jaganmohan Reddy as the new chief minister. The loyalist MLAs refused to take oath under K Rosaiah, who was sworn in as interim CM. But as the high command in Delhi pulled the reins, they reluctantly swore in. Jagan, meanwhile said that he will abide by the decision of the seniors in the party and asked his loyalists to restrain from cascading the situation.

Bombing Pokhran II
The nuclear tests done by India in Pokhran, Rajasthan, under BJP in 1998 came under severe attack from scientists. The dissenting scientists claimed that Pokhran II was not as big a success as projected by the then ruling party and others loyal to it. K Santhanam, a former DRDO scientist, who had questioned the efficacy of the thermonuclear device during the Pokhran-II tests, favoured an inquiry to determine the success of the 1998 experiments, saying creation of nuclear power could not be based on myths.

Meanwhile, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who as director general of the DRDO was involved in the nuclear tests in 1998, said the tests were successful and had generated the desired yield. Kalam, then Atomic Energy Commission chairman R Chidambaram and then director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Anil Kakodkar were key players in the Pokhran-II tests.

India conducted five nuclear tests on May 11 and 13, 1998, at the Pokhran range in Rajasthan, which included a 45 kiloton (kt) thermonuclear device, called hydrogen bomb in common parlance. The other tests on May 11 included a 15 kt fission device and a 0.2 kt sub-kiloton device. The two simultaneous nuclear tests on May 13 were also in the sub-kiloton range — 0.5 and 0.3 kt.

Judges make their assets public
In a historical decision that followed intense public debate concerning the accountability of the Indian judiciary, judges at the Supreme Court agreed to make details about their financial assets open to the public on their website. The decision was taken at a meeting attended by 23 judges of the country’s highest court and was presided over by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan. The decision welcomed by judges, media and the general public alike, is a radical initiative towards promoting greater transparency within the Indian judiciary system. Following the Supreme Court’s call some of the High Court judges such as the Kerala, Himachal, Bombay and the Madras High Court have also decided to go public with their assets.

Death of a dream ‘Down Under’
Australia was considered a cool study destination. Not any more. Fourteen incidents of brutal attacks on Indian students in quick succession shattered the dream of Indian students either studying, or aspiring to study in the pristine country. The assurances of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd against racism notwithstanding, tempers on both sides of divide ran high. Indian students staged angry protests, and on one occasion at least, retaliated when a group of Australians assaulted them. At the same time, Australians were also in belligerent mood. A Facebook community sprang up, with more than 60,000 members, claiming ‘Australia is full’ and makes incensing remarks like ‘curry-munching idiots’. It justified the violence on Indians, saying this was "frustration driven due to their foolish traits and culture".

The unfortunate turn of events will definitely mar the symbiotic relationship that the education world of the two countries has enjoyed in the last decade or so. While Australia offers international learning opportunities to Indian students at relatively cheaper cost, Indian students account for a great revenue source for Australia — Rs 4,800 crore per year. In the last five years alone, the number of Indian students taking admission in Australia has gone up from 30,000 to 97,000.

Global pandemic
Swine flu, a flu pandemic is a global outbreak of a new strain of influenza, termed Pandemic H1N1 virus by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that was first identified in April 2009. As per reports, the outbreak, which was first observed in Mexico has already spread in almost three dozen countries. India also confirmed its first case after a passenger, said to be flying from New York to Hyderabad via Dubai, was declared infected, by the authorities. In early August Reeda Shaikh, a 14-year-old in Pune, became the first casualty of H1N1 virus. Since then the toll has been going up with Pune as the epicenter. Maharashtra accounts for maximum flu related deaths, with Pune accounting for nearly 70 per cent of them. Karnataka is the second in the list. Other parts of India, including the capital Delhi, West Bengal, Manipur and Andhra Pradesh have also reported a high number of patients. People with face masks became a common scene in many parts of the country. Recently the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who returned from a trip to Russia also tested positive for swine flu sending a wave of panic among industrialists who had accompanied him on the trip. The toll in India, of people succumbing to swine flu according to recent reports, is around 477 and the total number of people affected with the virus being around 14,049.  

Last of the King of pop
The death of Michael Jackson, known as the “King of Pop”, at the age of 50 in June this year sent a ripple of shockwave all across the world. One of the world’s greatest entertainer and perhaps its most enigmatic figure, was about to attempt one of the greatest comebacks of all time. The death occurred after he suffered cardiac arrest at this home in Los Angeles, California. His death triggered an outpouring of grief around the world, causing the sales of his music and that of the Jackson to soar. Jackson's personal life has generated much controversy specially his changing appearance over the years. He was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993 though no charges were brought, and in 2005 he was tried and acquitted of further allegations. His memorial service was globally broadcasted live attracting an audience of up to one billion people. Some 80 hours of video that was shot during the last weeks of rehearsals for his comeback concert has been made into a two-hour documentary— ‘This is it’ a tribute film to the man and his music that opened worldwide on October 28, 2009.