By Amrutha Varshini
It’s almost the end of yet another roll-coaster year, ‘2021’ besides the year ‘2020’ being the most horrific one. India witnessed a series of delightful as well as dreadful events this year. Some were momentous while the others were disastrous, from the massive tractor rally during Republic Day till lakhs of Indians applauding wins from the Tokyo Olympics 2020, from WhatsApp’s new policies till Twitter shutting down many politician’s accounts, from the blazing news of oxygen shortage and bed scams during the second wave of covid-19 till setting a record of vaccinating 10 crore adults in 85 days, from the Tata Sons regaining their control over Air India till the SENSEX Stockmarket Index reaching an all-time high of 62245.43 points and from the mistaken kill of civilians in Nagaland till the most terrific loss of India’s bravest General Bipin Rawat along with his wife and 12 others in a helicopter crash.
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Let’s take a look at the events:
- Approval of vaccines
Vaccines by Bharat Biotech – Covaxin and Serum Institute of India (SII) – Covishield were formally approved by the Central Drugs and Standards Committee (CDSCO) on Sunday.
- WhatsApp’s new policy
As per a statement released by WhatsApp, “The update does not change WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices with Facebook and does not impact how people communicate privately with friends or family… WhatsApp remains deeply committed to protecting people’s privacy”.
- Republic Day
Due to the pandemic, no foreign head of state was invited as the chief guest. But, this day witnessed some wild protests that were never seen before. A massive tractor rally took place in Delhi as part of the farmers’ protest, an illegal flag hoisting at Red Fort, and a huge crackdown by security agencies on farmers, journalists followed by internet shutdowns in the national capital.
- The toolkit case
Disha Ravi, a Bengalurean environmentalist was arrested due to a suspected connection with Greta Thunberg’s tweeted document (toolkit)
- Rise of the second wave of covid-19
The pandemic rose in the month of March and showed a decline in cases in July. Shortage of oxygen supply, improper disposal of corpses, misuse of the Remedisivir vaccines and other costly medicines, and shortage of hospital beds were some of the notable disasters. Along with the second wave came the emergence of black fungus in a few places and was known to infect diabetic patients and patients who used steroids extensively.
- Pegasus Spyware
It was a leaked database that is usually sold by the Israeli surveillance technology firm NSO group. It was accessed by a Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. It was alleged that this database contained sensitive data of several Indian journalists, politicians, judges, the election commissioner, etc.. but however, the central government considered these allegations were baseless as they lacked enough evidence.
- Tokyo Olympics 2020
Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal in weightlifting, PV Sindhu bagged the bronze medal in Badminton becoming the first Indian woman athlete to win two Olympic medals, Lovlina Borgohain won the bronze medal in boxing becoming the third Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal, Indian men’s national field hockey team won the bronze medal, wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya won the silver medal and wrestler Bajrang Punia won his debut bronze medal. India’s second gold medal was bagged by Neeraj Chopra being the youngest ever Indian Olympic gold medalist and the only one to have won gold in his debut.
- Twitter’s lock
Twitter temporarily suspended the accounts of five politicians of the Indian National Congress including the former president of the party.
- Monetization of national assets
The Finance Minister of India announced National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) to sell assets (Indian Railways, National Highways, power transmission, and warehousing assets) worth Rs. 6 trillion in the next four years.
- Tokyo Paralympics 2020
Among 3 gold medals, 4 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals, Avani Lekhara won a gold medal in women’s 10m air rifle standing. Sumit Antil (F64) and Devendra Jhajharia (F46) won gold and silver medals respectively in the men’s javelin throw.
- Highest SENSEX record ever (in India)
The Indian stock markets hit a peak during this year with the Sensex of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) hit a record high of 62245.43 points while Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) hit its all-time high of 18,604.45 points.
- Tata Son’s regaining Air India
After 70 years of nationalization of the Air India company, the Tata Sons won as the highest bidder for the state-run airline. Air India was founded in 1932 under the name Tata Airlines by Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhaoy Tata.
- Repeal of the three Farm bills
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on 19 November announcing the withdrawal of the three farm bills after a yearlong protest by the farmers in the borders of Delhi.
- Misfire at civilians
A special unit of the Indian Army mistakenly open-fired at 15 civilians along with a soldier in the Mon district of Nagaland.
- Martyr of CDS Bipin Rawat
The Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and 12 others were martyred in a chopper crash near Coonoor, Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu. Investigations regarding this incident are ongoing.
Source: Wikipedia, Economic Times, India Today and Wion