India @ 65

| August 15, 2012

India_at_65_postnoon_news

It’s been a year of spectacular highs and disturbing lows for India. If on the one hand, it has taken giant strides in science and technology, its people still continue to fight social, political and economical battles. Take a look.

  1. NOW NUCLEAR : April 19: Agni-V propels India into elite ICBM club. India successfully test fires 5000 km range.
  2. BAIL OUT : January 19: After spending a mere nine months in jail, Delhi High Court grants bail to Suresh Kalmadi in Commonwealth Games scam.
  3. MILITARY MIGHT: January 26: Nation displays military might on 63rd Republic Day; Thailand PM, Yingluck Shinawatra is Chief Guest.
  4. RULE OF LAW : February 2: Supreme Court cancels all 122 licences given by A Raja in 2G spectrum scam on the basis of being “arbitrary” and “unconstitutional.”
  5. PORN IN PARLIAMENT : February 8: Three Bharatiya Janata Party Ministers caught watching objectionable video clip in Karnataka Assembly, resign.
  6. IRON LADY MARCHES ON : March 14: Political rights activist, Irom Sharmila’s fast (started in 2000) against Armed Forces Special Power Act enters 11th year.
  7. PINCHING PENNIES : March 16: Dinesh Trivedi steps down as Railways Minister after pressure from TMC. Mukul Roy takes office and rollsback the railway fare hike as proposed by Trivedi
  8. MOVIES AND MORE : May 3: The day Indian cinema turned 100, the iconic Bengali  actor Soumitra Chatterjee is selected for Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2011, for his outstanding contribution in garnering world-wide acclaim for Indian cinema.
  9. PLAYING HOST : March 29: India hosts 4th BRICS summit at New Delhi. Heads of state of Brazil, Russia, China and South-Africa are hosted by India.
  10. A VISIT TO REMEMBER : April 8: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari visits India, the first by a Pakistani head of state in seven years, on a personal visit to Ajmer Sharif. Holds talks with Manmohan singh on fighting terrorism and facilitating trade.
  11. HOLY MATRIMONY! : March 23: The Union Cabinet of India approves the redrafted Marriage laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010. Makes divorce with mutual consent more woman friendly. Allows courts to reduce or waive off period of six months.
  12. RED ATTACK : April 21: Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon kidnapped by Maoists in Chhattisgarh. He is released without harm after 12 days of being held hostage.
  13. WILD CARD ENTRY : April 26: Sachin Tendulkar, Rekha and Anu Aga are nominated to the Rajya Sabha. Sachin becomes first active sportperson to be nominated to Rajya Sabha.
  14. RIVER RAGE : May 1: More than 100 feared dead after a ferry capsizes in Brahmaputra river, Assam
  15. BUSTED : June 26: 26/11 handler Abu Jundal is arrested by Delhi Police.
  16. FREEZE FRAME : Homai Vyarawalla, (also known fondly by her pseudonym Dalda 13), India’s first woman photojournalist dies at 98.
  17. WALL-E : March 10: Rahul  Dravid (second player after Sachin to reach 13,000 runs in Test Cricket) retires from international cricket after a spectacular career lasting 16 years.
  18. ON A TIGHT BUDGET : March 16, 2012: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tables the union budget in the parliament. Congress describes it as growth-oriented as Opposition calls it anti-poor.
  19. YO YO ON GAY RIGHTS : February 29: SC raps union home and health ministries for taking divergent positions on the Delhi HC’s verdict decriminalising sex between homosexuals. Stays judgement.
  20. TROUBLED WATERS : February 15: Two fishermen, mistaken for pirates, are shot dead off Kerala coast by an Italian-flagged oil tanker, Enrica Lexie. Incident raises public outcry. India vs Italy row continues.
  21. NATIONAL TREASURE : March 21: Delhi secures the first place in per capita deposits in year 2011-12 followed by Chandigarh and Goa. While deposits of Delhi stand at 3.16 lakhs, Chandigarh is at 2.32 lakh rupees and Goa at 1.72 lakh rupees.
  22. WORST PLACE TO BE : June 14: With issues such as child marriage and female infanticide, India is rated the worst country to be a woman by a Thomson Reuters poll while Canada is voted the best.
  23. MADE IN INDIA : June 24: Swedish retailer IKEA, the world’s largest furniture maker, decides to enter Indian market. It will invest 1.5 billion euros to open 25 stores across the country. Six other retailers follow suit.
  24. LONDON LOOT : August 12: India bags record six medals in London Olympics 2012. Sushil Kumar becomes first ever Indian sportsperson to win individual medals in two successive Olympic Games.
  25. TIGER TRAIL : April 19: NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority) said in a reply to the RTI Query that 337 Tigers lost their lives in India in the last decade. NTCA elaborated that 58 tigers were found dead in 2009 and 56 in 2011.
  26. UNITED WE STAND : July 26: India and China agrees to take the defence and security dialogue to a higher level and work to take steps to ensure that the two countries achieve a USD 100 billion trade target by 2015 on 26 July 2012.
  27. BIDDING ADIEU : August 14: Former Maharastra Chief Minister and Union Minister Vilasrao Deskmukh passes away at 67 after fighting a prolonged liver illness.
  28. THE SPIRIT OF A WOMAN : July 23: Eminent freedom fighter and social activist Captain Lakshmi Sehgal passes away at 97 from a severe heart attack.
  29. CURE FOR CANCER? : June 19: In a pioneering innovation, the nanotechnology scientist, Rao Papineni and his colleagues invent and file patent for a unique cancer treatment system.
  30. ORDER, ORDER : April 27: Justice Dalveer Bhandari, the judge of the Indian Supreme Court defeats Justice Florentino Feliciano of the Philippines to become the Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
  31. APPLE A DAY : April 27: Electronic giant Apple officially launches the new iPad in the Indian market.
  32. MAGNIFICENT MARY: August 8: Mary Kom bags bronze in Women Flyweight Boxing, giving India its fourth medal in the London Olympics 2012. She knocked out of flyweight semi-finals after being beaten by Britain’s Nicola Adams.
  33. FREE FLYING : January 4: Government declares India free of bird flu,H5N1. The states were advised to have strict surveillance, especially in the vulnerable areas bordering the infected countries and in areas visited by migratory birds.
  34. UP IN FLAMES : April 18: Major fire in the signalling system at Kurla brings Central line and Harbour line of Mumbai Suburban Railway to a standstill and two commuters lose their lives after falling off an overcrowded local train.
  35. AND THE WINNERS ARE… : March 6: Election results for five state assemblies are announced; Samajwadi Party (Uttar Pradesh), BJP (Goa), Congress (Manipur & Uttarakhand), Shiromani Akali Dal – BJP combine (Punjab) emerge winners.
  36. TURNING 60! : May 13: Indian parliament celebrates 60th anniversary. President Pratibha Patil releases coins of Rs 5 and Rs 10 denomination to mark the occasion along with a special stamp.
  37. LEANER, CHEAPER, BETTER : August 2: World’s biggest HIV drugs maker Gilead Sciences signs deals with three Indian firms to promote its low-cost generic versions of its HIV medicine.
  38. GAGGED : 10 April: The Allahabad High Court directs Union government of India to ensure that there is no reporting on movement of troops by the print or electronic media.
  39. GAME, SET AND MATCH : June 7: Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi win Mixed Doubles Title of the French Open.
  40. GAME OF THRONES : May 10: Vishwanathan Anand plays against Boris Gelfand to defend his world chess championship title from 10-31 may.
  41. LUCK BY CHANCE : June 28: Amidst much confusion, Surjeet Singh returns home after 30 years in Pakistan jail
  42. GROUNDED : May 8: Over 100 Air India pilots go on strike. The strike comes a month after the government cleared a massive Rs. 30,000 crore bail-out package for the national carrier.
  43. BLACK OUT : July 31: India witnesses its biggest ever power blackout post the collapse of the northern power grid twenty states in India were left with no electricity, its second in a span of over twenty four hours.
  44. STILL HUNGRY : January 11: 42 per cent of Indian children are malnourished — Hunger and Malnutrition (HUNGaMA) report.
  45. DARK KNIGHTS RISE : May 27: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) win the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League, after defeating defending champions Chennai Super Kings.
  46. ADDING FUEL TO FIRE : May 24: In the highest one-time hike in petrol prices ever, state-owned oil companies increase the price of petrol by 7.54 rupees a litre. During 2011-12, petrol prices were revised five times in order to bring domestic prices in line with those in the international market.
  47. JAI HANUMAN : July 12: Dara Singh, wrestling champion and actor, passes away following a cardiac arrest.
  48. BACK TO SCHOOL : April 24: The Rajya Sabha, amends Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 to provide for home-based education to children with severe disabilities.
  49. MINORITY REPORT : May 28: Andhra Pradesh High Court invalidates the 4.5 per cent sub-quota for minorities carved out of the 27 per cent reservation for OBCs by the Union government.
  50. NO CONFIDENCE MOTION : April 25: Standard & Poor’s downgrades credit rating outlook for India from stable to negative.
  51. BULLS EYE : June 21: Deepika Kumari becomes World No. 1 archer. She is the second woman archer from India to achieve this feat, after Dola Banerjee.
  52. FIRE POWER : July 29: DRDO successfully test-fires Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile in Balasore district, Orissa. It is the world’s fastest cruise missile in operation. It can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.
  53. FOLLOW THE MONEY : July 31: In a small cabinet reshuffle, P Chidambaram is appointed as the Union Finance Minister as Sushilkumar Shinde is allotted the portfolio of home ministry.
  54. FALL FROM GRACE : July 16: Leading American magazine TIME on the cover of its Asian edition dubs Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the Underachiever.
  55. DARING TO BARE : July 23: Model-actor Sherlyn Chopra has the distinction of being the first Indian model to have posed nude in Playboy. The model herself had written to Hugh Hefner asking that she be allowed to pose.
  56. GREEN BELT : July 2: The ‘Western Ghats’, India’s hottest biodiversity hotspot was inscribed to the World heritage List during the 36th Session of the World Heritage Committee meeting held at St. Petersburg, Russia.
  57. JUSTICE AT LAST : April 12: Eighteen get life term for Ode village massacre during 2002 Gujrat riots.
  58. THE CENTURIAN : March 16: Sachin Tendulkar scores his 100th International Hundred against Bangladesh in Asia Cup.
  59. CHAK DE INDIA : March 3: India lifts the first women’s world cup in Kabbadi defeating Iran
  60. END OF AN ERA : July 18: Rajesh Khanna, veteran Bollywood actor and director passed away of liver dysfunction.
  61. DADA’S REIGN : July 22: After a season of rife speculation, UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee is elected as India’s 13th President.
  62. UP IN ARMS : July 20: Assam’s Kokrajhar and Udalguri district turn into a blood-strewn battlefield with Bodos and Bengali-speaking immigrants caught in ethnic clashes.
  63. TOP GUN : May 31: General Bikram Singhtakes over as Indian Army. He is second Sikh to be CoAS, the first having been General J. J. Singh.
  64. NO MORE COPYCATS : May 22: Lok Sabha, passes the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010. The bill seeks to provide royalty to the lyricists and remove operational difficulties.
  65. CROWNING GLORY : July 25 :Indian social activist Kulandei Francis (66) is among the six individuals from around to the globe to be chosen as a recipient for the Magsaysay Award.

 

 

 

 

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