By Pankaj Yadav, KUNA,
New Delhi : For India, the year 2010 has, more or less, been a smooth one, with no major upheavals or mishaps.
The most glorious event in Indias kitty during the year has been holding of the Commonwealth Games (in October), wherein India improved its medal tally giving its best performance by standing second.
To mark the Indo-Kuwait ties, the year witnessed the marked visit of Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who met Indian Prime Minister Dr Manhoman Singh, Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Oil Minister Morali Deora and Minister For Information Ambika Soni. He also held wide ranging talks with senior officials in Indias Oil Ministry.
The year was also marked by visits of heads of governments of all the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, viz. British Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Barack Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicholas Sarkozy. Incidentally, all five supported Indias bid for a permanent UNSC seat.
In October this year, India got elected as a new non-permanent representative to the UNSC. It will assume its position on January 1, 2011.
India got 187 votes in the 192-member strong UN General Assembly. Earlier, India held a non-permanent seat in the UNSC in 1992.
Economically, India witnessed a rising and falling graph in terms of rate of food inflation, even as the rate touched the peak of 16.55 percent in September, fell to below-ten percent level in November, and then again rose to above-12 percent level in December-end.
Indian economy grew at a rate of 8.9 percent for most part of the year in 2010.
In terms of domestic politics, the Congress-led Government received a serious jolt in the form of the ongoing “2G Spectrum” scam, in which it has been blamed that billions of dollars were amassed by those in power.
The Government continues to struggle to save its skin from the allegations leveled against it in the scam.
In sports arena, world famous Sachin Tendulkar emerged as the most century-getter when he scored his 50th century in international cricket. Sachn is also the maximum run-scorer in international cricket.
Internal disturbances kept recurring during the year, even as the Naxals (a group of armed rebels) struck repeatedly, killing hundreds of security personnel and rendering huge monetary loss to government exchequer.
The menace of Naxals reached such heights during 2010 that the Indian Government had to formulate a dedicated policy framework to tackle it.
The year also saw a landmark judgment – Ayoudhya verdict – from the highest court, viz Supreme Court, whereby it was ruled that the disputed site “RamJanambhoomi Nyas” (where the disputed Babri Masjid was demolished by Hindu fanatics in 1992), be divided into three parts, two to be held by the Hindus and one by the Muslims.
The previous year was also the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. During this decade India witnessed the worst ever terrorist attack on December 13, 2001 on its Parliament. Then, on November 26, 2008, the country suffered another major terrorist attack in Mumbai in which around 150 lives were lost. These two terror attacks during the decade jolted the country enough to formulate a new terror policy.
The first decade of the 21st century also saw a change of government in New Delhi. While the first half was ruled by the present day Opposition party – the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the second half (since July 2004 till date) was ruled by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.