It is one of the worst years for India’s farmers. Tamil Nadu farmers took protest to Delhi until they were removed by a Supreme Court order. In November, farmers belonging to 207 organisations from Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh descended on the capital. The agrarian crisis is real. Successive economic reforms have failed to address the imbalance between agriculture’s high share in employment and low share in GDP.
The fact that a farmer gets paid measly on his crop speaks of the utter disregard of government policies towards food-growers. Their anger was reflected in the recently concluded Assembly election results and does not bode well for the BJP’s chances in 2019. Expect more loan-waiver promises that are bound to do more harm than good: farmers who have been denied waivers have committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh this year.
The Great Indian Bank Robbery
Nirav Modi, Vikram Kothari, Nitin Kasliwal, Jatin Mehta—the list of bank thieves is endless. These tycoons and such other defaulters have significantly contributed to the mind-boggling non-performing assets (NPA) of India’s banking sector. They have gone beyond the long arm of the law and have parked themselves conveniently in countries with which India does not have an extradition agreement.
Absconding Diamantaire Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are accused of swindling Punjab National Bank of `14,357 lakh crore in one of the biggest financial frauds in the country. Indian banks reported a staggering 12,533 frauds, aggregating to `18,170 crore in 2017-18, largely due to weak internal controls. As of March 31, NPAs were tagged at `9.6 lakh crore.
Big fights
AAP Vs Bureaucrats
POWERPOINT
The perennial power tussle between the Delhi government and bureaucrats took a sinister turn in February. The state’s then Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash alleged that he was assaulted at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence, during a meeting.
A criminal case was registered, and Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and 11 other AAP MLAs were named accused. In October, Kejriwal, Sisodia and nine other MLAs were granted bail by a trial court. MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, who were arrested, were also granted bail by the High Court.
Early this month, the trial court said it would hear the case on January 30. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal was told by the counsel for Kejriwal, Sisodia and other AAP leaders that they had not been provided with complete documents annexed with the chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police. The court asked the counsel for AAP leaders and police to complete the process of scrutiny of documents by January 30.
Reliance ADAG Vs Journalists, Media Organisations, Politicians
BLAME SHAME
October saw a barrage of defamation suits slapped by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group against journalists, media organisations and politicians for raising questions about the controversial Rafale deal. Media reports quoting court records state that since January, four Anil Ambani-owned companies have filed 28 defamation suits in Ahmedabad courts. The cases, however, are not limited to Rafale alone.
Many of them are related to news reports on the sale of key telecom assets by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications to his brother Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio. While eight cases are registered against politicians from Opposition parties, 20 are against media organisations and journalists. Of the cases, 26 are civil suits filed in the Ahmedabad City and Civil Sessions Court, which claims damages under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
CBI Director Vs Special Director
CENTRAL BUREAU OF TUSSLE
In an unheard-of incident in CBI’s history, the government in October sent the investigating agency’s warring No 1 and No 2—Director Alok Verma and his deputy, Special Director Rakesh Asthana—on leave in a late night order. Verma was replaced by M Nageshwar Rao, Joint Director. Raids were conducted at the CBI Headquarters where the 10th and 11th floors were searched and the offices of both Verma and Asthana sealed.
This came in the wake of infighting between the top officers, who had accused each other of corruption. Earlier, Verma had stripped Asthana of all his responsibilities. Verma, however, moved the Supreme Court challenging his removal. The court ordered the CVC to complete the probe in two weeks and barred Verma’s interim replacement from taking any major decisions. Early this month, the apex court observed that the CBI director must continue in his post for two years.
In the 2018 elections in Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, there were only
62 women
(9%) among the 678 MLAs elected—whereas 9.3 crore women live in these five states. In the 2013-14 Assembly elections, female candidates had won 77 (11% ) of 678 seats.
An average Indian received 22.3 spam calls a month in 2018, the second-highest in the world after Brazil, reveals Truecaller. The Swedish phone-number identification app aggregated data from calls from Jan 1 to Oct 30 when users received 17.69 bn spam calls globally.
refusing to lose
Irrfan
The crossover actor has been fighting a rare disease since the beginning of the year. Diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Tumour, the 51-year-old is presently undergoing treatment in London. It hasn’t stopped him from promoting his films on social media. Khan told his fans that his illness made him realise that “how you are just a cork floating in the ocean with unpredictable currents”.
Sonali Bendre
Bollywood actor Sonali Bendre Behl revealed on social media earlier this year that she was diagnosed with cancer and had moved to New York for treatment. Unlike privacy obsessed celebrities, Bendre has been active on social media, posting updates, tearing up while revealing the news to her son, and uploading photos of her shaved head. She is currently back in India for a break between treatments.
Manohar Parrikar
The dapper Chief Minister of Goa’s never-say-die attitude to advanced pancreatic cancer is winning him hearts. In spite of unsolicited suggestions that he should hand over the charge of the state administration to someone else, Parrikar made a sudden appearance on December 16 to inspect a bridge in Goa. Photos depicted a frail CM with a medical tube inserted through his nose talking to officials escorted by a team of medical professionals.
Adios
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Mae West
Billy Graham
American evangelist
(Nov 7, 1918-Feb 21, 2018)
Sridevi Kapoor
Bollywood actor
(Aug 13, 1963-Feb 24, 2018)
Roger Bannister
First athlete to break the four-minute mile
(Mar 23, 1929-
Mar 3, 2018)
Nargis Rabadi (Shammi)
Bollywood actress
(1931-Mar 6, 2018)
Stephen Hawking
English physicist
and cosmologist
(Jan 8, 1942-
Mar 14, 2018)
Annapurna Devi
Indian surbahar player
(Apr 23, 1927-
Oct 13, 2018)
Barbara Bush
First Lady of the US as George H W Bush’s wife
(Jun 8, 1925-Apr 17, 2018)
Avicii
Swedish musician,
DJ and remixer
(Sept 8, 1089-April 20, 2018)
Philip Milton Roth
American Pulitzer-winning novelist
(March 19, 1933-May 22, 2018)
Kate Spade
American Fashion Designer
(Dec 24, 1962-June 5, 2018)
M Karunanidhi
CM, Tamil Nadu
(Jun 3, 1924-Aug 7, 2018)
Anthony Bourdain
Chef and writer
(Jun 25, 1956-
Jun 8, 2018)
Rita Bhaduri
Bollywood actor
(Nov 4, 1955-
Jul 17, 2018)
Somnath Chatterjee
Former Lok
Sabha Speaker
(July 25, 1929-Aug 13, 2018)
Balram Das Tandon
Chhattisgarh
governor
(Nov 1, 1927-Aug 14, 2018)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Former prime minister
(Dec 25, 1924-Aug 16, 2018)
Ajit Wadekar
Former Indian skipper
(April 1, 1941-Aug 15, 2018)
Kofi Annan
Former UN
secretary-general
(Apr 8, 1938-Aug 18, 2018)
John McCain
American statesman and military officer
(Aug 29, 1936-Aug 25, 2018)
Tran Dai Quang
Vietnamese president
(Oct 12, 1956-Sept 21, 2018)
Kalpana Lajmi
Independent
filmmaker, producer and screenwriter
(May 31, 1954-Sep 23, 2018)
Paul Allen
Microsoft co-founder
(Jan 21, 1953-
Oct 15, 2018)
ND Tiwari
Former CM, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand
(Oct 18, 1925-Oct 18, 2018)
Madan Lal Khurana
Former CM, Delhi
(Oct 15, 1936-Oct 27, 2018)
Ananth Kumar
Union minister
(July 22, 1959-Nov 12, 2018)
Stan Lee
Marvel Comics
creator and comic book writer
(Dec 28, 1922-Nov 12, 2018)
Brigadier Kuldip Singh Chandpuri
Hero of Longewala Battle
(Nov 22, 1940-Nov 17, 2018)
Alyque Padamsee
Ad Filmmaker
(Mar 5, 1928-Nov 17, 2018)
Mohammad Aziz
Playback singer
(Jul 2, 1954-Nov 27, 2018)
George HW Bush
Former US president
(June 12, 1924-Nov 30, 2018)