India saw its many ups and downs in 2017; demonetization was on people’s minds till March and a couple more months. Peace was restored in Kashmir, but communal clashes and numerous heinous crimes committed by cow vigilantes reigned in 2017.

India started the year with a victory by successfully launching 104 satellites in a single mission on 15^th February. ISRO’s PSLV – C37 consisting of two nano-satellites of India, INS -1A and INS -1B, and nano-satellites of other countries i.e. Israel, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America from SDSC SHAR Sriharikota. The 101 international satellites were launched as a part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corp. Ltd, the commercial arm of ISRO and international customers. ISRO set a world record by launching 104 satellites in one go.

On July 1, India woke up to one of the biggest reforms after Independence. GST came with a baggage of confusion, uncertainty, and critique. All small and medium-sized businesses have to register with the government and now every business has to make cash memos and bills. The months that followed the reform saw inflation in certain sectors and lower quarterly GDP. Critics are divided on its long-term results, but for now, the loopholes and glitches in the technology have been dealt with and the process is smoother.

The same month, India’s 14^th President, Ram Nath Kovind was elected with a majority of 65%  and M. Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the 13^th Vice-President of India on 5^th August.

Soon after, India’s most contentious issue which persists to date, the triple talaq bill started gaining heat across the debating circles in India. Supreme Court made historic decisions on the right to privacy and triple talaq. The 9-judges bench ruled in favor of the right to privacy and declared it as a fundamental right. Indian citizens were awarded the basic liberty of taking decisions of their lives, which was a much-awaited right for the LGBT+ community. Legalising same-sex marriages in India still has a long way to go but India is beginning to tread on that path.

In the case of Shayara Bano VS Union of India and Ors, the court banned the custom of triple talaq. Thousands of women in our country have suffered because of this practice and our neighboring countries banned the practice ages ago. On one hand, the court’s decision is still questioned by women’s rights’ organisations, and on the other hand, the Muslim community contends that they are not bound to follow the law because religion and the constitution are two separate entities.

The Supreme Court criminalised sex with a minor girl, whether in wedlock or out of it, but the Kerala High Court did not rule in favor of Hadiya, who had a consented marriage with a Muslim.

In what can be termed as a dark mark in the journalistic history, Gauri Lankesh’s cold-blooded assassination sparked outrage and people from various walks of life questioned the freedom of media under the present government. It was a blow to the very spirit of journalism but the media woke up to a renewed fire of protecting its freedom as an homage to Gauri’s death.

The year ended for North India on a bitter note with pollution levels rising across all the northern states. The pollution levels had reached disgraceful levels last October and it is high time the government and we take strict action towards it.

Feature Image Credits: Newslaundry

Prachi Mehra

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2017 has come to a close and as we welcome 2018. On this occasion let us look at some facts, figures, and statistics regarding  India’s performance in the past year and think about what could have been done to raise India’s position on the ladder.

While India’s economic growth rate has attracted attention across the world, its recent slowdown has raised the eyebrows of analysts and economists. Despite growth in the business and investment sectors, India continues to grapple with the long-drawn and basic problems of hunger, poverty, corruption, climate change, and poor levels of human capital. The credit rating company, Moody’s Investors Services, upgraded India’s investment ranking from the lowest to one notch up. In the ‘ease-of-doing-business’ rankings, India witnessed a 30-spot rise from 130 to 100. Some analysts have called these improvements long overdue while others have credited  Prime Minister Modi’s concerted action on the structural front in the economy for these recent developments. Due to various reforms in the audit and banking sector and the introduction of the  Goods and Services Tax (GST), bill the economy is undergoing various upturns which are expected to lead to a stronger and well-integrated economy. Modi’s initiatives, like Startup India, Digital India, MakeinIndia etc., are also credited for India’s better performance in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and innovation and competitiveness indices overall. There still persist the overwhelming problems of red-tapism, infrastructural bottlenecks, overregulation, and implementation issues for which immediate reforms must be undertaken by the government. On the other hand, what these business rankings overshadowed were India’s downslide in gender equality, hunger, press freedom, and inequality reports.

India slipped 21 places in the Global Gender Gap ranking for 2017. The Global Hunger Index ranked India 100 out of the 119 countries listed, behind North Korea, Bangladesh, and Iraq but ahead of Pakistan. A paper by Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel titled Indian Income Inequality 1922-2014 — From British Raj to Billionaire Raj? pointed out the widening income disparities which endanger social stability. These reports did not invite many hues and cry from the analysts as they show India’s status on fairness, equity, and empowerment rather than the ease of doing business which shows direct consequences for India’s growth and material welfare. Without a healthy, better-fed, and egalitarian society, such strides in development are of little consequence. The real development comes with the enhanced capabilities of the human capital, as pointed out by Amartya Sen. India has set ambitious targets for itself while ratifying the Paris Climate Deal and is taking several measures to ensure increased use of renewable energy. However, it is failing miserably on the front of reducing emission targets and needs to address sustainable development challenges with immediate effort.

Women’s contribution to economic development cannot be neglected. Other South Asian nations like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka perform better than India in areas of health, human development, and gender equality. India can learn from its own in-house examples of Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu; traditionally poor and caste-based societies – on how to develop human capital and assure equity by ensuring universal education and improved social security systems to make sure that the fruits of economic growth trickle down to the last man and woman. Instead of debating over whether a movie should be released or not or why a national leader went to watch a movie after defeat in elections, or whether Christmas should be celebrated or not in some schools, we need to talk about why India has not fared well in 2017 and how we can make  2018 a fairer and more equitable year.

The rankings given below are for referential purposes, sourced from Byju’s.

Feature Image Credits: IndiaSpend

Oorja Tapan
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