India Trends
Every year brings with itself a lot of expectations, hope and aspirations. Some are original and some inspired (or uninspired) from history. A lot of things change with the pages of the calendar, and while, a year may be a very short time in a nation’s history, for the ones who live in these times, it’s rather consequential. — By Aneesh Dubey

GOVERNANCE, EXCUSE ME?
2011 will be known and remembered for a very long time for a central government that wanted to throw itself out more desperately than all the opposition parties and Maoists added together. The government, led by Dr Manmohan Singh, seemed to lose all cohesion. Uninspired handling of Indo-Pak relations (more reaction than action), repeated occurrences of terrorist strikes, high inflation, and heavy handedness in handling protests were some issues that at times made people wonder where India’s headed.

What made things worse was that along with the lack of a strong leadership, different allies and different ministers kept on giving differing versions of problems and possible solutions.

SPEAKING JUDGES
Judicial activism attained greater prominence in 2011. The Supreme Court’s stand on the appointment of CVC PJ Thomas ensured propriety in the higher executive. Then, the SC’s clear and strict order against the Salwa Judum underlined that citizens' rights cannot be compromised at any cost. A strict Supreme Court ruling on honour killings also brought the point home that social customs cannot justify violence and the infringement of Fundamental Rights, finally putting to rest all debate. The grant of bail to civil rights activist Dr Binayak Sen also reflected the SC’s progressive opinion on the British-era law of sedition.

THE LOST GIRLS
With the census report coming out, the only thing worth noticing was the declining child sex ratio. In the 2011 census, it did touch the worst-ever figures of 914 girls against 1000 boys. In the previous census, this figure was 927. Such a steep fall clearly pointed out the very disturbing trend of child sex selection in India. Strangely, the usual defaulters like Punjab and Haryana have improved their performances. What was more shocking was the growth of new hubs of this illegal practice. It also pointed out the need of more social sensitisation - rather than economic incentives - to make people’s thinking process gender neutral.

WHAT IS KOLAVERI- KOLAVERI DI?
A song, shot in an almost amateur way, with the most insipid lyrics - but with the infectious smile and style of the singer (who happens to be Rajnikanth’s son-in-law) - became the toast of the country. Shot by Dhanush for the movie 3, Kolaveri Di was not originally planned to be included in the audio album. But once the video came out, all hell broke loose! It got more than a million views on the first day. Suddenly, it became such a rage that people in all parts of India could be found listening to this catchy tune.