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.
From international engineering experts to local rat miners, everyone played their part in the daring rescue operation. The Silkyara tunnel project is 4.5 kilometres long and is part of the Centre's strategic 900-km 'Char Dham Yatra All Weather Road'.
India fails to win ICC ODI World Cup 2023
In Cricket, India failed to get over its 10-year ICC trophy drought. November 19 marked the end of a heartbreaking campaign for the 'Men in Blue' whose shot at the coveted silverware did not materialise after they lost to visiting Australia in the final of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023. During the tournament, the Rohit Sharma-led Indian side did not lose a single match in its league stage until the grand finale. The loss meant India’s ICC trophy drought has overshot a decade.
India hosts G20 Summit
India, which took charge as the G20 president on December 1 2022, handed it over to Brazil this year on the same date. Leading G20, India spearheaded the induction of the African Union (AU) in September, in the first-ever expansion of the grouping of the world's largest economies. The AU is an influential organisation comprising 55 member states that make up the countries of the African continent.
The Wrestling Federation of India continues to remain in the headlines:
The year will also be remembered when star grapplers and Olympians took to the streets to protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexually harassing women grapplers. Grapplers including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Mallik, and Vinesh Phogat vociferously protested and after assurance by the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur withdrew their protest.
While India helmed G20, it focused on issues like inclusive growth, digital innovation, climate financing and equitable global health access to benefit the Global South.
2024 Lok Sabha polls:
In 2024, India will head for its general elections to the Lok Sabha, wherein the ruling BJP is looking for a third straight term. The Opposition INDIA bloc is pulling all stops to deny the saffron party the same. The Narendra Modi government has built the Ram temple in Ayodhya, at a site where the Babri Masjid once stood, and is all geared up for the grand inauguration on January 22, next year.
Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Palestine conflict:
The world beyond India witnessed bloody wars, in Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas' October 7 attack. The former has dragged on for nearly two years and the support of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears to be waning in the face of the latter’s offensive. Russia has dug in and would go on for a long haul hoping to force Ukraine to its knees while building up and fine-tuning its arsenal, converting its dumb bombs into guided missiles which can hit the targets with precision.
Israel, on the other hand, looks for a complete take over the Gaza strip, scripting the end of the Hamas chapter in the narrow strip once home to 2.3 million, now most of them being driven out in the ground operation. Israel's act has forced United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to invoke Article 99 of the UN Charter, which empowers him to inform the council of matters he believes threaten international peace and security.
The Hamas attack led to the killing of 1,140 people in Israel and about 120 are still held captives. Israel's counter-offensive killed more than 19,000 people in Gaza and displaced more than 80 per cent of Gaza's population.
Come 2024, let's hope the world marches towards global peace, making it a just and equitable one for all.
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