Hyderabad: In 2023, India landed near the south pole of Earth's lone satellite, besides launching a satellite to study the Sun at the Lagrange point-L1. If it were of any high beyond measure, the country saw its low in Manipur ethnic strife. The triple-train crash tragedy in Odisha's Balasore that killed at least 296 people, poor air quality and historical floods in Delhi, were among the calamities that the country faced.
Chandrayaan-3 brings joy:
On August 23, Chandrayaan-3, India's moon-landing mission, successfully landed on the lunar surface at 6.03 pm, catapulting the country to the space league of nations which have successfully landed on the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 took 41-days to reach the landing site near the lunar south pole, since its launch on July 14. The lander named Vikram, was carrying a six-wheeled rover, Pragyan, besides the dreams of 1.4 billion Indians.
Air Pollution in Delhi continues unabated:
Poor air quality did not miss its annual date with the country's national capital this year as well. The poisonous haze kept blanketing Delhi with the air quality turning from 'poor' to 'severe' and 'severe plus', multiple times from October, peaking in November, courtesy stubble burnings and vehicular pollution. The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) announced measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) - stage IV, an emergency response action plan, which restricted plying of light commercial vehicles registered outside Delhi and Delhi-registered diesel-run medium goods vehicles and heavy goods vehicles besides banning construction and demolition activities.
Floods ravage Delhi
This was not the isolated climate crisis that Delhi weathered this year. It was covered with sheets of water to the point that flood waters reached the gates of the Supreme Court of India and in Rajghat. River Yamuna flowed beyond its danger level marooning the capital city's low-lying areas. On July 13, the Yamuna River swelled to a record 208.66 metres, with its flood conquering deeper pockets of the city it had ever touched in over four decades, during the unprecedented floods Delhi faced due to heavy rainfall in the capital and the river's upper catchment areas. The Yamuna River flowed above the danger mark, 205.33 metres, for eight days on the trot, from July 10. The flooding was attributed to encroachment on the river floodplain, extreme rainfall within a short span of time and silt accumulation that has raised the riverbed.
Violence rocks Manipur:
The May 4 video from Manipur shook the conscience of the nation, sending shockwaves across the country and got the attention of the West as well. The video from Kangpokpi district showed two women being paraded naked and molested by a group of men. Four people were arrested after the video trickled out on social media. The government blocked the video from being shared again. Multiple petitions were filed before the Supreme Court relating to the ethnic violence in the northeastern state and transferred at least 17 cases probed by the CBI to neighbouring Assam for trial.
More than 170 people were killed and several hundred others injured since ethnic violence first broke out in the state on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
Video from Ujjain creates a stir:
A video from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain had an eerie similarity, where a girl bleeding and half-naked, approaching for help, was seen shooed away. The CCTV visuals were as disturbing as the others, leaving us to wonder whether there is any sense of humanity left in us.
Tragedy in Joshimath:
On January 3, subsidence hit Joshimath, a town of over 20,000 people in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district. The town, which stands at a height of over 6,150 feet, saw 868 structures developing cracks and 181 of them deemed unsafe, rendering several hundred residents homeless. Eight different institutions studied the land subsidence in Joshimath, most of them concurring on the town being located on a foundation of loose sediments coupled with increasing population pressure and multi-storeyed buildings, including hotels, as some of the primary factors.
Rescue of trapped workers in Silkyara:
In November, India carried out one of its significant rescue operations managing to save the lives of 41 labourers after a gruelling 17-day ordeal. On November 12, a portion of the Uttarkashi tunnel collapsed around 200 metres from the entrance, trapping 41 workers. All those trapped were pulled out of the tunnel by a rescue team after 17 days with the operation involving multiple agencies, hovering between hope and despair.