Republic Day violence, Pegasus spyware, Gen Bipin Rawat’s demise, a national news rewind for the year
(Clockwise) People wait in queue to get vaccinated, protesting farmers and CDS General Bipin Rawat. Pics/ AFP
1. First Covid-19 vaccines and the lost dead
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A fortnight after Covaxin and Covishield were approved by the Central Drugs and Standards Committee, India began the world’s largest vaccination drive on January 16. Within three months, the second wave devastated the country, and by April 30, India was reporting over four lakh new cases and 3,500 deaths a day.
Aerial picture of burning pyres of victims who lost their lives due to Covid-19 at a cremation ground in New Delhi. Pic/ AFP
The factors for the rise were aplenty: Kumbh Mela, election campaigns, sport events like the IPL, festivals and weddings. Amid oxygen shortage and a crumbling medical infrastructure, India hit a new low with two lakh deaths in May. The floating bodies in the Ganga and bright orange flames from mass cremations, however, told a different story. Many international news publications believed that the number of dead was severely undercounted. According to a report in NPR, an additional 3.4-4.7 million people died during the pandemic in India, over 10 times the official death toll of 4.14 lakh.
A farmer walks past a graffiti on a hut at a protest site in Singhu. Pic/ AFP
2. Farmers’ journey, from violence to victory
The year, which saw the culmination of perhaps the longest protest India has ever seen, began with the Supreme Court staying the implementation of the three farm laws. On January 26, what began as a peaceful parade as tens and thousands of farmers rode on tractors to Delhi, turned violent as some sections deviated from the assigned route and stormed the Red Fort. The day was marred with clashes with the police, leaving one dead and several police personnel injured.
On December 9, farmers called off their agitation after the Centre sent them a letter accepting most of the demands. Earlier, on November 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address, had apologised to the farmers and announced the repeal of the three laws. A fortnight later, Parliament passed the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021. The Centre also agreed to form a committee on Minimum Support Price and withdraw all cases against the farmers.
A woman checks the website of Israel-made Pegasus spyware at an office in the Cypriot capital Nicosia. Pic/ AFP
3. Pegasus papers leak
On July 18, a leaked database of Israeli surveillance technology firm NSO Group, which was accessed by a Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, was shared with 17 media groups from 10 countries. The database included the list of government clients to which Pegasus, a spyware, was sold. In India, The Wire had the documents and revealed that over 300 Indians were put under surveillance through the spyware. Prominent among them were Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, political strategist Prashant Kishor, The Wire’s founder and journalist Siddharth Varadarajan, student activist Umar Khalid, tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, among others.
The logo of Pandora Papers, in Lavau-sur-Loire, western France. Pic/ AFP
4. Pandora Papers scandal
On October 3, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists started publishing reports based on a leak of about 11.9 million documents from 14 financial services companies around the world. The documents pertained to how prominent people amassed wealth in secret offshore assets. Indians from the list included industrialist Anil Ambani, fugitive businessman Nirav Modi and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, among others. On October 4, it was announced that a Multi-Agency Group (MAG) headed by the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes will monitor investigation into the Pandora Papers leak. On November 16, it was reported that the MAG is supervising dispatch of notices via the Income Tax Department to “most” of the citizens named in the leak.
Air India returns to the Tatas after 68 years. Pic/ AFP
5. Tatas take over Air India
On October 8, the Tata Group got government nod to acquire 100 per cent stakes of Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Of the total amount, 15 per cent will go to the government, and the rest in clearing the debt. While the company will pay off Rs 15,300 crore and an additional Rs 2,700 crore of the total debt amounting to Rs 61,562 crore, the government, even after generating Rs 14,718 crore from the assets left with it, will still have a debt portion to the tune of Rs 28,844 crore left to pay back. The airlines returns to the Tata fold after 68 years. The company was earlier called Tata airlines and was nationalized in 1953. The Tatas are set to take over the national carrier by January 23, 2022.
Activists of India’s youth Congress burn an effigy of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a protest near Home Minister Amit Shah's residence in New Delhi. Pic/ AFP
6. Lakhimpur Kheri violence
On October 3, 2021, three cars rammed into a crowd of protesting farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri. One of the SUVs belonged to Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra and it was reported that his son Ashish Mishra was in one of cars. Four farmers and a journalist were killed in the incident and three more—Ashish’s driver and two BJP workers—died in subsequent clashes. Ashish, along with three others, were arrested a week later. An SIT, which was formed on the orders of the Supreme Court, stated in its report that the incident was a ‘pre-planned conspiracy’. The report caused much uproar in Parliament, as Opposition members stormed into the Well at the Lok Sabha and demanded the ousting of Union Minister Mishra.
The news of introduction of the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021 led to panic selling and fall in prices of cryptocurrencies. Pic/ AFP
7. Cryptocurrency law and panicked investors
The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021, which seeks to “prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India with certain exceptions” and “create a facilitative framework for the creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India”, was one of the 26 bills that the government had planned to introduce in the Winter Session of Parliament, but was later deferred. The news of its introduction in one of the biggest crypto markets in the world caused panic selling and led to a fall in the prices of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum by as much as 15 per cent. Last year too, government had planned to introduce a bill, but it was later scrapped and a committee was formed to discuss it further.
TMC supporters celebrate after Mamata Banerjee won the bypoll to Bhabanipur seat. Pic/ AFP
8. Mamata sweeps Bengal; BJP retains Assam
The Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress won the West Bengal elections in a third consecutive win. While Banerjee single-handedly drove her party to victory by winning 215 out of 292 seats, she lost her constituency Nandigram to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari. She later won the Bhabanipur constituency in the by-election by 58,832 votes. The BJP became the primary Opposition in the state with 77 seats, and the Congress and Left parties drew a blank. Post-poll violence, however, rocked West Bengal as BJP and TMC workers clashed, party offices were burned and homes looted.
Although the BJP lost West Bengal, it retained Assam for the second time in a row. The party won 60 of the 126 seats, and its allies Asom Gana Parishad and United Peoples Party (Liberal) won nine and six, respectively. Receiving its biggest blow in the north-eastern state, the Congress failed to win a single seat.
Supporters of Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) carry an effigy of Home Minister Amit Shah as they protest over the killing of 14 civilians by Indian security forces in Nagaland. Pic/ AFP
9. A botched-up operation in Nagaland
On the evening of December 4, a unit of 21 Para Special Forces opened fire on a truck, on the Tiru-Oting road in Mon town in Nagaland, which was carrying villagers and mine workers. It was reported that this was after a tip-off about a possible movement of insurgents. Six villagers, all of them mine workers returning home, were killed in the botch-up operation, which led to a clash between angry villagers and the army, and subsequently eight more civilians and a soldier were killed.
The army apologised for the incident and initiated an inquiry, even as the state saw massive protest rallies and the clamour to repeal Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) grew. On December 20, the Nagaland Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the repeal of AFSPA.
A coffin containing the mortal remains of CDS General Bipin Rawat being transported to the funeral site in Delhi. Pic/ AFP
10. CDS General Bipin Rawat killed in chopper crash
On December 8, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika and 11 other defence personnel died when their helicopter crashed in Tamil Nadu’s Coonoor. The Mil Mi-17 helicopter was on its way to Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, where General Rawat was to address the faculty and student officers. The helicopter took off from Sulur Air Force Station near Coimbatore at 11.48 am and was scheduled to reach its destination by 12.15 pm. Group Captain Varun Singh, the only lone survivor of the crash, succumbed to injuries on December 15 while being treated at a Bengaluru military hospital. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced a tri-services inquiry into the incident.
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