Snapshots 2010

 

Noose tightens for Kasab: Almost a year-and-a-half since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman captured during the three-day rampage, was sentenced to death by a special court. “He shall be hanged by the neck till he is dead,” Judge M.L. Tahilyani said at a special court as Kasab sat with his head bowed. The judgment was hardly surprising, given the accused pleaded guilty during the trial (although he later retracted) and more than 650 witnesses testified against Kasab, backed by video grabs of him walking around the attack site with an AK-47 rifle in hand. The speedy trial was a victory for India’s notoriously slow judicial system.

Bhopal: Too little, too late: A quarter century after the world's worst industrial disaster killed over 15,000 persons, a Bhopal court convicted former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and seven others in the Bhopal gas tragedy case and awarded them a maximum of two years’ imprisonment. However, 89-year-old Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation of USA, who lives in the US, appeared to have gone scot-free as there was no word about him in the judgment delivered by Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohan P. Tiwari. All convicts applied for bail immediately after the sentencing and were granted relief in the case.

Right to Education Act gets a push: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act passed by Parliament on August 4 last year was officially notified on April 1 this year. The notification also gave effect to the 86th Constitution Amendment that describes education as a fundamental right. Only four states —-Arunachal, Manipur, Orissa and Sikkim—- and two Union Territories—-Chandigarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands—- notified the Act which allows the states a three-year window to meet their obligations. Under the Act, any cost that prevents a child from accessing school will be borne by the State which shall have the responsibility of enrolling the child as well as ensuring attendance and completion of eight years of schooling.

Women in the saddle: Fourteen years after the first attempt was made in the Lok Sabha and a history of failures subsequently, the Constitution amendment bill to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state legislative bodies met with limited success when it was adopted by the Rajya Sabha in March this year. The euphoria was, however, short-lived as the main hurdle of seeing it through the Lok Sabha is yet to be cleared before it becomes law. The Bill was torn up by some opposition members and thrown at the Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari in the House

Judgment day for honour killings: In a landmark judgment in March, the District and Sessions judge at Karnal, Vani Gopal Sharma, awarded death sentence to five men for killing a young couple, Manoj (23) and Babli (19) who had dared to defy the infamous Khap panchayat and got married. The court was aided by the fact that the boy's family defied odds to lodge a complaint and pursued the case despite intimidation and boycott by the panchayat. While the convicted appealed against the order, the Government of India formed a GoM (Group of Ministers) to explore ways of finding an effective deterrent. A study commissioned by the National Commission for Women documented 326 cases of honour killings in the past two years, most of them in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Telangana stir splits polity: The demand for a separate state of Telangana, spearheaded by K Chandrashekhar Rao of Telangana Rashtra Samiti, kept Andhra Pradesh on the boil. Osmania University in Hyderabad emerged as a centre of pro-Telangana protests, which often turned violent. As many as 93 MLAs and 5 MPs dramatically threatened to relinquish their seats in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha, creating political uncertainties. The Centre burnt its fingers following indiscreet comments made by the Union Home Minister and the Home Secretary. It bought its way out by constituting the five-member B.N. Srikrishna Committee to examine the demand and make recommendations by yearend.

All for a free lunch: Thousands of people, including women and children, had gathered at Kripalu Maharaj’s Ashram in Pratapgarh district, near Allahabad, on March 4. They were not there for a religious discourse but to have a free lunch and collect free utensils being distributed by the temple authorities in the memory of one of the parents of the resident priests. Anxious that stocks of utensils could run out, the crowd surged forward and the rush triggered the collapse of an arch constructed for the event. It then led to a stampede that left 65 persons dead and more than 100 injured before order was restored. The stampede once again highlighted the absence of regulations for controlling large crowds.

Death on the rails A goods train ploughed into a herd of elephants in North Bengal in September, killing seven elephants. Animal activists cried foul saying that it was a moonlit night and nothing could have obstructed the driver’s vision. As the train was moving through tea gardens, there was no reason for the driver to have missed the herd of elephants. They also alleged that the train was speeding at 90 Kmph and not at the slower speed recommended for the stretch, a well-known corridor used by elephant herds. The Railways refused to own up the responsibility but claimed that the driver lost his nerve when an adult tusker charged at the train, and instead of slowing down, accelerated, hitting the female elephant, killing her instantly.

Law catches up with Rathore Nineteen years after the incident and over 400 hearings and 19 adjournments later, Haryana's former DGP, SPS Rathore was finally convicted and sent to jail in May for molesting a teenager, Ruchika Girhotra. The retired police officer was sent to jail in May after the district court found him guilty of molestation and enhanced the sentence to one and a half years imprisonment from the six months awarded by the CBI special court. Rathore, defended by his lawyer-wife, complained of trial by the media but failed to get any relief from the High Court till he was granted bail in November by the Supreme Court. He is still not completely out of the woods with Ruchika's father demanding his conviction for abetting her suicide.

Army Chief leads cleanup: The Army's image took a further beating when a court of inquiry found prima facie evidence of wrongdoing by three senior officers in what came to be known as the Sukna Land Scam near Darjeeling. Lt gen Avadhesh Prakash, the then Military Secretary to the then Army Chief, was accused of favouring a builder/promoter from Siliguri and help him obtain illegally a No-objection-Certificate from military authorities for the purchase of land near the base of the 33rd corps. The inquiry was initiated at the behest of the then Chief of the Eastern Command, Lt Gen V.K. Singh, who has since then taken over as the Army chief.

Yeddyurappa’s prayers heard... The endowment department of Karnataka hogged headlines during the year by issuing a circular to 34,000 government-aided temples in the state to pray daily for the welfare of the Chief Minister, along with the welfare of the state. While an embarrassed Chief Minister ordered his name to be dropped, he made no secret of his faith in divine dispensation. He jetted to various temples across the country. He was also generous in donating gold, money running into crores and even elephants to the temples. The BJP still decided to retain him despite allegations of corruption, land scam and favouritism piling up against him.

... and for Rosaiah unheard Days before K. Rosaiah stepped down as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the government took out full-page advertisements in newspapers. It showed Rosaiah taking strides while the copy grandly proclaimed, “ Cometh the hour, cometh the man”. As it turned out, he soon had to put in his papers citing health grounds. Like his Karnataka counterpart, the Andhra CM made it a point to visit temples and pray. But, unlike his Karnataka counterpart, he is not known to have made generous donations. In fact, his critics made fun of his alleged stinginess. But whatever the explanation, his prayers clearly went unheard.

Trouble in Thailand: Thousands of anti-government Red Shirt protesters fought with troops from March till May in Bangkok, turning parts of Thailand's capital into a war zone and disrupting the daily life of its 15 million residents. Mass transit trains stopped running and schools and businesses were closed. The government ordered the military to clear the protesters, resulting in violent clashes. Over the two months of protests 92 people died, most of them civilians, and hundreds were imprisoned. Some protesters set fire to more than 30 buildings. Inspite of this, Thailand still attracted tourists in record numbers.

Calamity in Cambodia: The clothes, shoes and personal belongings of the victims left on a bridge, where a stampede took place on the last day of the Water Festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on November 23. At least 349 persons died and more than a 100 were injured after they panicked while crossing the bridge during Water Festival celebrations, reports said. The stampede as the biggest tragedy to hit Cambodia since the mass killings carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. The prime minister had ordered an investigation and declared a national day of mourning. Panic broke out after a concert on Diamond Island, which followed a boat race on the Tonle Sap river regarded as a highlight of the festivities.

Price rise generates heat: While the Opposition does not let go of any chance to protest against price rise, the RBI has in a series of measures tightened money supply to rein in inflation. There are two ways to bring down prices: increase the supply of food items or suppress demand by curbing money supply in the system. Though a normal monsoon has ensured a good crop this year, the prices of food products have not cooled to the desired levels. In fact, onion prices have hit the roof. Since pulses and oilseeds are imported, their prices depend on the level of imports and domestic demand. The FCI chief has admitted that food worth Rs 50,000 crore is wasted annually.

Fuelling the economy: Based on the recommendations of the Kirit Parikh committee, the UPA government decontrolled petrol prices in June this year. With this, oil marketing companies can hike prices without the Union Cabinet’s prior clearance. Pressure is growing on the government to decontrol diesel as well. Since the economy runs largely on diesel, it will be politically difficult for the government to let its prices be market-driven. Kerosene price decontrol has been ruled out. The Central and state governments can soften the oil price rise blow — if they want to — by withdrawing/slashing the taxes on oil, which come to almost half its price.

Babes and Woods Players from different sports got into a variety of sticky situations this year, with some having past exploits in their personal lives aired for the very first time. Leading the pack was champion golfer Tiger Woods, who hit the spotlight for reasons other than winning. The downhill ride began for the world's first billionaire sportsman when Woods arrived in Melbourne for Australian Masters tournament. American tabloid The National Enquirer reported prominent New York nightclub hostess Rachel Uchitel had flown into Australia to pay Woods a visit while he was staying at the Crown hotel.

Cracking the Formula: Germany's Sebastian Vettel became Formula One's youngest world champion at the recent season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Vettel started out racing karts at the age of eight and then competed in junior series, including the 2004 German Formula BMW championship. That earned him a test in a Williams-BMW F1 car. The following year he was top rookie in the Formula 3 Euroseries, and became the youngest driver to take part in a grand prix in when he drove for BMW-Sauber in Turkey. He then made his Formula 1 race debut with BMW-Sauber at Indianapolis. Vettel switched to Red Bull in 2009. He won four races last year, including Red Bull's first victory at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Modi falls from BCCI grace: Lalit Modi is the most talked-about personality in cricket in India over the past five years, and mostly for the wrong reasons. His ability to put together something of the magnitude of the Indian Premier League also made him larger than life, and too much to handle. The year saw Modi handle the creation of two new franchises in Pune and Kochi, but the latter was suspended after Modi’s allegation that they were breaching confidentiality agreements. This also led to the resignation of Shashi Tharoor as External Affairs Minister. The BCCI wasn’t amused either and Modi was suspended as Chairman and Commissioner of the IPL in April. However, he has challenged this decision on every platform possible and the battle continues.

‘Don’ Harbhajan runs riot: Harbhajan Singh returned a Bradmanesque average of 105.00 in the three-Test series against New Zealand as he aggregated 315 runs in four innings, making him a huge favourite with all the fans around. Back-to-back hundreds in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad made him the most prolific scorer behind Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. However, New Zealand managed to keep the series loss down to a 0-1 margin, thanks to some resolute batting and also some indifferent spells from Bhajji, who ultimately managed 10 wickets in the series, at an average of 42.00, not enough to make things happen at a regular basis.

Oscar calling: Peepli Live, a satire on suicides by farmers, is India's official entry for the Oscars.

Salaam Salman: Salman Khan-starrer Dabangg, a throwback to the Hindi cinema of the 1980s, stopped at nothing and the star of the show revelled in the joy of letting himself go full tilt. The masses loved the package, although some critics cringed.

Karan fails to ‘Klick’: Karan Johar’s company, Dharma Productions, was in overdrive in 2010, releasing the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer My Name is Khan and We Are Family, both of which had the gifted Kajol in pivotal roles. The former, directed by Johar himself, lacked the depth that a film dealing with Islamophobia required. The latter, helmed by Siddharth Malhotra, was emotionally sterile. Neither set the boxoffice on fire.

High comedy: Films like Subhash Kapoor’s superbly scripted laugh riot Phas Gaya Re Obama kept the flag of intelligent Hindi cinema fluttering.

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