2015: The Year That Was!!

In a few hours Year 2015 vanishes into the dark marshes of history never to return & a vibrant & youthful 2016 is waiting to emerge into the horizon. The old gives way to the new; unfortunately, though in politics it is never a smooth transition, for the new snatch from the old what they think is rightfully theirs.

My New Year resolution on regular exercise was followed diligently, but has done no  difference to my weight though, much similar to the Indian economy where bureaucracy has been well exercised & disciplined but has not done much to the weight of the Indian growth rate which remains stagnant.  Since exercise enhances fitness, hopefully, 2016 would be a turnaround year, both for me & my country.

While 2014 shall be remembered as the year of the Modi juggernaut, 2015 shall be remembered as the year when the juggernaut was finally stopped in its tracks first by an upstart – Kejriwal in the national capital New Delhi - & then latter by experienced hands – Lalu & Nitish – in Bihar. This is much like the new unicorn startup story: New startups like Flipkart, Zomato etc. build businesses after identifying unfulfilled consumer needs while established ones like Aditya Birla, Reliance at al later follow; this is exactly what happened this year. Hopefully 2016 turns out to be the year of startups producing more jobs since the target of 1.2 crore jobs for the new entrants into the job market every year is unlikely to be met by the govt. alone.

In 2015 we finally realized that “We Cannot Breathe”, off course, only after a prod from the courts. Neither civil society realized it on its own nor have our elected representatives acted with alacrity. In the quest for creating more jobs have they quietly given the quality of air a miss?; not really, for they have failed in creating jobs too.  Delhi is showing the way on tackling pollution & hopefully other cities would follow through in the New Year. With the Paris agreement in place it would be good if 2016 turn out to the year of “renewable energy”. All likeminded Indians should install a solar module on house tops & ultimately start generating additional energy to be handed over to the national grid, as is the case in Germany.

Wish 2016 turns out to be year promising “Better Health”, jobs & hence “Wealth” & consequently “Happiness”. Borrowing my concluding words from Tagore:  Into such world of freedom should India awake.