The year that was

This is the last day of 2008. The end of this day will witness a grand farewell to 2008 and an equally grand welcome to 2009. The past year was a special one, for more than one reason. In every field, new milestones were established. I would like to peek back 365 days and try to relive those moments, just one more time.

The Indo-US Nuclear deal gave tough times to Manmohan Singh

It was the year of twists and turns in the Indian political arena. The Nuclear deal with the US proved to be enough to shake the government at the centre. It caused the long awaited divorce of the Left and the Congress while sparked off a new bubbly affair of 10, Janpath with Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh. The cash-for-vote scam was not only shocking but disturbing. It maligned the image of Indian democracy in front of the entire world community. Raj Thakery and the MNS tried every trick in the book to gain political advantage by causing regional divide in Maharashtra but the unity of Hindustani Manus proved to be too strong for someone like Thakery to destabilize. The recently concluded Jammu & Kashmir elections were a slap on the face of the separatists.

Abhinav Bindra - India's first and the only gold medalist in Olympics

The year was definitely one to remember for all sports fans. It was the year of Olympics and Abhinav Bindra gave all of us which no one else had ever given since time immemorial – the first individual gold. His triumph in the 10m air rifle event was well complemented by two bronze medals by Vijender Kumar in Boxing and Sushil Kumar in Wrestling thus giving India the best ever medals tally. Usain Bolt defied the limits of human sprint by clocking 9.69s in 100m and 19.30s in the 200m creating new world records in both the events. By winning 8 golds in this Olympics, more than many of the countries like Israel, Venezuela, Peru, etc. have won in all the Olympics held so far combined, Michael Phelps not only broke the long standing record of Mark Spitz of the most golds in a one Olympics as well as most golds in Olympic history, but ignited yet another debate of ‘who’s the best sportsman ever’. In the world of motorsports, Vijay Mallaya introduced the world to Indian power and potential by launching Force India – the first ever Formula1 team owned by an Indian. Although Force India failed to finish among the points at the end of the season, the motivation that his team provided to the young drivers like Karan Chandok and others, can not be underrated. The Euro Cup of Football kept all of us glued to our television sets till late nights and with Spain ending their underachievers tag, the Spaniards gave a clear signal to the EPL and other club managers that they are a force to reckon with. Another Spaniard, Rafael Nadal ended the 5 Wimbledon winning streak of Roger Federer and toppled him of the world number 1 ATP rank too, though Federer showed some signs of comeback by winning the US Open towards the end of the year.

Indian heroes destroyed the Aussie might

2008 was the year of Indian cricket. By defeating the mighty Australians at Perth, earlier in the year, the Indian brigade tore the layer of invincibility which was adhered to them since many years. And if this was not enough, the the 2-0 home series win against them left the kangaroos with nothing but remorse. After the Proteas overcame the Australians at Melbourne yesterday, the era of Australian domination in the world of cricket is surely over. The world saw India’s power and dominance on the world of cricket when Lalit Modi kicked off the inaugural season of the IPL which attracted foreign players and sponsors alike. Sachin Tendulkar became the demi-god of cricket after breaking Brian Lara’s record for the most runs in test matches. The year also saw us bidding farewell to two of India’s finest cricketers, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble from international cricket.

Narrow Escape!

Obama came out victorious after a marathon election process

The restoration of democracy in Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh and the first ever general elections in Bhutan were surely welcome signs for India. The 8 eight year long Bush regime which saw him escaping many verbal and even ‘missile’ attacks is about to end. The long marathon of US presidential elections gave the US  its first black President in its 200+ years of democratic history. Both the crude oil prices and sensex reached all time highs but owing to the US recession towards the later part of the year, both fell to rock bottom. Ill health finally forced Fidel Castro to announce his resignation from the presidency of Cuba. Bill Gates too stepped down as the Chairman of Microsoft to concentrate on his noble endeavours of philanthropy.

Chandrayaan - I

2008 was a year of scientific advancements for the world as well as for India. The Large Hadron Collider was officially inaugurated while ISRO launched Chandrayaan – I to the moon. The announcement of the launch of Bhuvan – India’s answer to Google Earth was yet another feather in the cap of ISRO.

26/11 made us all think about our national security

The soul of Mother India was made to cry several times by terror strikes in Jaipur, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and then in Mumbai. The Mumbai attacks caused worldwide criticism of India’s intelligence failure and led to the change of leadership in Maharashtra as well as the Indian Home Ministry. The war hysteria created by Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks is yet another point to worry for the Indian leadership.

2009 brings with it new hopes and new challenges. It will witness the Dance of Democracy as general elections to the Lok Sabha will be held somewhere in April-May. India would have to devise new means to fight persisting terror threats from the militant organisations within and outside the country. I wish for world peace and safety for all this new year.

Happy New Year!

Oil Turmoil

The news of the constantly dipping oil prices in the international market is definitely one to ponder about. Hence, i decided to dedicate this blog to this very situation. The oil prices which had crossed a staggering $100 per barrel and were maintained at that level till September this year, are now at a shocking $38 per barrel! The importance and the impact of oil in today’s world is known to one and all. To be true, dearth of oil can bring any nation, howsoever powerful it may be, to a total standstill. This cold reality brings shivers down my spine and it’s high time all of us realise the gravity of this statement. The international oil prices are controlled and regulated by a selected group of oil rich countries better known as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Should the prices of a commodity as important as oil be controlled by only a selected group of countries? I completely disagree with this current world order on oil.

Oil holds the unique distinction of forcing the world witness two wars in the past decade and if the current state of affairs in the gulf region continues, i won’t be surprised if we see another one in the near future. One need not specially mention the chief culprit for the current scenario. The country which can be called as ‘addcited to oil’ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024181/, http://tinyurl.com/yz9arf) on the present day is definitely the United States of America. As compared to many of the European and even Asian countries, the US has not taken enough measures to promote green technologies in its industries and other establishments. Thus, the dependence on oil of the US has not gone down even on this day when the entire world is looking for green alternatives for fulfilling the energy needs. The two Gulf Wars and the present confrontation of the US with Iran are a direct consequence of such irresponsible policies of the US. The current leadership of US, which is now counting its last few days in power, will go to any extent to get a hold of world’s oil reserves. I pray that the Obama administration does not stick to these policies of the government else the world we are living in would no longer be a safe place to be in. I say this with firm confidence keeping in view the US government’s stand on oil for the past many decades and the military might which can be a means of complete destruction to this world. To make the situation even worse, we have the bankers of the US Federal Reserve who, for the fulfillment of their vested interests, have always supported every cause of war for the US. None of us have forgotten Vietnam, have we?

Another very important point is that the stringent policies of the US for getting oil causes great unrest in many of the oil producing Islamic countries. One of the direct consequence of this is global terrorism which is a menace for every country in any kind of association with the US and India is no exception to this. None of us can ignore the impact that something like the 1973 oil crisis (wikipedia) will have in the present world. The oil embargo against the US and Western Europe that was imposed in 1973 by the Arab countries may not get similar response today that it got three decades ago.

I propose that irrespective of the countries producing crude oil, the oil prices should be regulated by a special committee of the United Nations. This committee should consist of representatives of the different member countries of the UN, nominated by the respective Petroleum Ministries of the countries. The membership would have to follow yearly rotation policy with 5-6 countries operating at one time. Surely, imposing such a system won’t be a cakewalk for the UN and would face strict opposition by the OPEC but with the support of countries like the US, China, Australia, India, Brazil, the whole of Europe, the entire south-east Asia and Africa, there is little doubt in my mind that it can not become a reality.

Comments and furthur suggestions are invited; they are important!