Tags: 2008 , India

India wraps up an eventful 2008 marked by highs and lows with the year-end events like the unprecedented terror attacks in Mumbai and the global economic downturn overtaking the dramatic survival of the government in Parliament and the consummation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The launch of unmanned mission to moon 'Chandrayaan-I' pitchforked the country into the exclusive club of moon-faring nations giving it the confidence to plan a human spaceflight by the middle of the next decade.

The mercurial Indo-Pak relations again came under strain once again in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes with Pakistan continuing to be in denial mode over the perpetrators of the attacks emanating from its soil and still not ready to act on India's demands to bring them to justice.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in April-May, assembly elections in five states considered the semi-final before the big battle ended 3-2 in Congress' favour against BJP. Jammu and Kashmir also braved the separatists' boycott call and the militant's gun to return a hung verdict producing a National Conference-Congress coalition government.

Abhinav Bindra gave India the unprecedented gold in the Olympics and boxers made merry in the Beijing Games while cricketers continued their terrific run with humbling mighty Australia and England on the home soil.

A series of bomb blasts in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Assam taking a heavy toll of lives exposed serious gaps in internal security. The point that was reinforced by the outrageous Mumbai attacks that kept the commandos of paramilitary and armed forces on their toes for 60 hours before they could eliminate the desperados.

The outcry over Mumbai resulted in political heads rolling at the Centre and in Maharashtra with Shivraj Patil, who managed to survive many a crises, finally exiting the home ministry that saw a new incumbent P Chidambaram.

Chidambaram, who as Finance Minister, was already doing firefighting as the impact of the global financial crisis and the recession having its effect on the Indian economy.

India, whose economy hoped to post a 9 per cent growth rate and which initially thought could overcome the global crises, now has come to accept the reality. It now has scaled down growth projections and is anticipating a higher deficit than planned.

Chidambaram acted in concert with the RBI, which periodically took measures to boost economy with bold monetary policies and finally rate cuts. The government also came out with a massive stimulus package to counter recessionary effects and there is talk of one more stimulus package in the new year and one for the next financial year.

But during the entire financial crises, the Indian stock market, which had reached a record peak levels in the earlier part of the year, plummetted to abysmal levels sending shockwaves that government tried to overcome through urgent steps.

What was Finance Ministry's loss was Home Ministry's gain when Chidambaram quickly got down to toning up the security systems, especially a coastal cordon that would prevent terrorists using the sea route as in the case of Mumbai strikes. The new Home Minister also worked with the opposition and successfully pushed through legislation to put in place a National Investigation Agency, a federal anti-terror mechanism that was long in coming but was opposed by states.

He also piloted amendments to make law tougher providing for deterrence against terrorists. But it was another point that BJP described it as government waking up from a long slumber working under compulsion in the wake of Mumbai attacks.

A meeting of the Chief Ministers is slated in the New Year when more steps to improve internal security will be discussed. But the central government is racing against time given the fact that elections are due shortly and there is pressure from the public for ‘results'.

The year saw the end of alliance between the Left and the Congress-headed UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal threatening the survival of the Manmohan Singh government but some quick-footed movement by the Samajwadi Party from the opposition camp helped the government survive the trust vote.

The victory of the government in the trial of strength was marred by allegations of bribery levelled by BJP whose MPs produced huge amount of money in Parliament as proof.

But a Parliamentary committee that went into it gave a clean chit to Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh and Congress MP Ahmed Patel of making any attempt to bribe parliamentarians to vote in favour of the government.

The survival of the government coincided with the diplomatic triumph at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) which ended over three decades of India's nuclear apartheid. This was followed by the American Congress voting the nuclear deal which itself was unprecedented given the fact that the US was slipping into a grave financial crisis and the electoral process was at its peak.

Chandrayaan-I, launched on October 22, established India's credentials as a major space-faring nation which was set to explore outerspace by sending probes to Mars, asteroids and fly past comets.

India's maiden lunar mission will orbit the moon at an altitude of 100 km for two years and is tasked to create detailed maps of the moon identifying its resources and also look for ice in the polar regions.

On the political scene, the Left's departure from the UPA triggered activity in the Third Front which also saw a boost with the entry of AIADMK but to a certain extent neutralised by the exit of INLD which moved towards the BJP.

The coming Lok Sabha elections will be a do-or-die battle for 81-year-old L K Advani who has been projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP.

The saffron party, which was on an upswing by victories in Himachal, Punjab and Gujarat, suffered a setback with defeats in Rajasthan and Delhi. The success in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh gave it some consolation but its strategy of exploiting terror plank in the wake of Mumbai attacks that took place in the middle of assembly elections, did not appear to have paid dividends.

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