Published 21:15 IST, December 30th 2019
2019 Highlights Part 2: From Chandrayaan-2 to anti-CAA protests, here's what happened
2019 was a tumultuous year, which saw the rise of India's space technology with ISRO's lunar lander - Vikram 'hard-landing' on the moon to anti-CAA protests
2019 was a tumultuous year, which saw the rise of India's space technology with ISRO's lunar lander - Vikram 'hard-landing' on the moon to the rise of protests across the country against the recently amended Citizenship Act. The year saw India's moment of global pride - Chandrayaan 2, the fall of the Congress-JD(S) Karnataka government, the historic Ayodhya land dispute verdict, the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, Uddhav Thackeray's swearing-in as the first Thackeray CM, the fall of the Indian GDP to 4.5% and the angry protests against CAA. Here are the highlights of the peaks and lows of the year.
Here are the most significant events of 2019:
July: Chandrayaan 2 ( Launch to Hard-landing)
Chandrayaan-2's rocket lifted off at the scheduled time of 2:43 PM on July 22 with the Vikram Lander and Pragyan rover housed in it. Vikram lander was scheduled to 'soft-land' on the moon on September 7 and Pragyan rover was set to roam the lunar surface to collect samples for study. With Chandrayaan-2 India aimed to become the fourth country to a soft landing on the Moon after US, Russia, and China.
Unfortunately, on September 7 at 1:50 AM when Vikram was scheduled to land, ISRO's Deep Space Antenna lost communication with Chandrayaan-2's lander- Vikram as it descended towards the lunar surface. The lander which had descended from 30 km to 2km smoothly, had lost communication with Mission Control. The most heart-warming moment was when PM Modi was seen hugging a heart-broken ISRO chief K Sivan, who was seen breaking down after Vikram Lander lost contact. The debris of the crashed Vikram Lander was located by NASA on December 3 - 89 days after losing contact with Vikram.
July: Karnataka: Fall of JD(S)-Congress govt, rise of BJP
The fall of the Congress-JD(S) government occurred between July 1 and 10, when 15 Congress and JD(S) MLAs resigned from the Assembly. After tendering their resignation, it was accepted by the Speaker after three days of Hotel politics. Most of the MLAs were flown to Mumbai and were kept in a resort while they appealed to the Supreme Court to accept their resignations.
Meanwhile in Karnataka, the Congress and JD(S) tried to pacify their rebel MLAs who had mainly resigned as they were not given cabinet berths in the government. Congress strongman D K Shivakumar even travelled to Mumbai to meet the MLAs but to no avail. After the Supreme Court's intervention, the MLAs were made to submit their resignations to the Speaker in person. This led to the much-awaited floor test on August 26, where the BJP managed to garner 105 votes in the truncated assembly, with the support of its 104 MLAs and the support of an Independent MLA.
The by-polls which was necessitated by the disqualification of 17 rebel MLAs by Speaker Ramesh Kumar were held on December 5. After the Supreme Court allowed the rebel MLAs to contest in the Karnataka by-polls, 14 of the 16 rebel MLAs who joined the BJP were fielded by the saffron party. Later, on December 9, the results declared that BJP won 12 seats, Congress won 2 seats and an independent MLA won one seat - thus solidifying the Yediyurappa government.
October: Maharashtra debacle, Uddhav Thackeray takes oath
Following the Maharashtra Assembly polls, Shiv Sena reiterated that it will accept only the 50:50 formula, BJP denied ever having agreed to such a formula reportedly offering 13 cabinet portfolios to Sena while keeping 26 for its ministers. Apart from Sena's portfolio demand, the party had demanded a sharing of 2.5 years in the CM post too ; this has been refused by Devendra Fadnavis leading to fallout. While Shiv Sena was in talks with NCP-Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, Devendra Fadnavis formed an alliance with Ajit Pawar and was sworn in on November 23.
Four days later, Fadnavis was forced to resign after Ajit Pawar rescinded his support after the Supreme Court ordered an open ballot floor test in the Maharashtra Assembly immediately. The MVA won the floor test by garnering 169 votes and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who is the first member of the Thackeray clan to hold a Chief ministerial position took oath at 6:40 PM on November 30 after being unanimously selected as the Maha Vikas Aghadi leader.
While two ministers from each party were sworn in with Thackeray, on December 30, Shiv Sena's 13 ministers (10 - cabinet, 3 - MoS), NCP's 13 ministers (10 - cabinet, 3 - MoS) and Congress' 10 ministers (8 - cabinet, 2 - MoS) took oath into the expanded cabinet. Ajit Pawar was sworn-in as Deputy CM again. Aaditya Thackeray who is the first member of the Thackeray family to contest elections was sworn-in as one of the youngest Cabinet Ministers.
November: Supreme Court's Ayodhya verdict
Pronouncing the landmark judgment in the Ayodhya dispute case on November 9, the Supreme Court, delivered a unanimous judgment in the title suit of the disputed area awarding it to the Hindu parties for the construction of a temple. It also directed the Centre to come up with a scheme within three months to set up a trust which will hand over the outer courtyard and inner courtyard of the site for construction of a temple. Apart from this, the SC stated that an alternate land of 5 acres is to be allotted to Muslims for the liberty of constructing a mosque, either by the central govt or the State govt, in a suitable and prominent place in Ayodhya. Later on December 12, the Supreme Court dismissed all 18 review pleas filed in the apex court unanimously, giving finality to the Ayodhya land dispute.
While the dispute of the existence of a temple prior to the mosque has been contested for 461 years, the point of contention started when in December 1949, a crowd entered the mosque and installed a Hindu idol beneath the Central dome of the mosque, believed to be the birthplace of Ram. After the incident, the area was sealed off till 1986 - when it was unsealed on the orders of a civil court, allowing Hindus to worship under the Central dome of the mosque where the makeshift temple had been installed. The dispute flared in 1992, when the disputed structure was demolished, after which five cases were filed in the matter, with the Allahabad High Court pronouncing its verdict in 2010 - dividing the land equally among all three parties.
November: Kartarpur Corridor opened
PM Modi inaugurated the Integrated Check Post of the Kartarpur Corridor at Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur on November 9. On October 24, India and Pakistan signed a landmark agreement to operationalise the historic Kartarpur Corridor to allow Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the holy Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. The corridor which is operational throughout the year and seven days a week, allows people to travel visa-free. Pakistan conditionally waived the $ 20 service fee per pilgrim for the inauguration and on Guru Nanak Sahab's 550th birth Anniversary, after facing severe criticism for not doing so.
November: Indian Economy hits 7-year low with 4.5% GDP
In a massive blow to India's economy, India's second-quarter GDP (July-September) numbers stand at 4.5% - the slowest growth in almost seven years, as released by Central Statistics Office on November 29. The previous quarter (April-June) GDP numbers were at 5% and the Q2 (2018-2019) stood at 7%. This development comes inspite of the government's various economic moves like the merger of 9 PSU banks into 4, major corporate tax cuts, policy changes in the automobile sector, reduction in tax regulations to boost foreign income, attract investors and increase the consumer demand. The government currently follows the base year of 2011-12.
The official numbers released by the government showed that 8 core industries output in October declined by 5.8%. The Gross Value Added (GVA i.e GDP without taxes) grew 4.3% in July-September 2019 compared to Q1 when the growth was 4.9%. The recent slump in growth reflects the poor growth in the economy due to the slump in manufacturing, automobile industry, retail, agriculture.
December: Citizenship Amendment Act and nationwide protests
The most contentious bill of the Winter session saw one of the most heated debates in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Introduced by Shah, the Lok Sabha passed it 311-80 votes and the Rajya Sabha passed it 125-105 votes on December 11. The Act amends the previous Citizenship Act 1955 to make refugees who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship. Moreover, the Bill exempts exempt the inner line permit areas in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and areas falling under the Sixth Schedule in the region and will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014.
The protests against CAA which began in Assam has now spread throughout the country. Violent protests were witnessed in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, Delhi, and Maharashtra. While thousands have been detained by the police throughout the country, at least 27 people have died till date in these protests.
Several universities - Jamia Millia, Aligarh, Madras University witnessed clashes between police and students which resulted in alleged lathi- charging, tear gas and rubber pellet action by police and vandalism by protestors. Section 144 has been imposed in select areas and internet too has been shut down in several places. In UP police have detained 5,500 people and arrested 1100 to date.
Updated 23:26 IST, December 30th 2019