View source for India, A brief history: 1947 onwards

==All the news that made headlines in 2020 in India==
[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/the-news-that-made-headlines-in-2020-in-india/articleshow/79966484.cms  December 26, 2020: ''The Times of India'']

''' All the news that made headlines in 2020 in India '''

NEW DELHI: Though the coronavirus pandemic may have brought the entire country to a grinding halt for major parts of the year, several non-Covid news made it to the front page this year. The country saw elections in two states, a massive agitation against the newly introduced farm laws and a record slump in the country's GDP owing to the Covid-19-induced lockdown. This year, the country also bore witness to grisly communal riots in the national capital in which over 40 people were killed.
 
Here is a look at some of the top headline-making news from this year

1 Coronavirus-induced lockdown brings country to a grinding halt

On March 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address urged citizens to observe a 14-hour curfew to stop the spread of coronavirus. The PM also asked all citizens to stand in their doorways, balconies or windows, and clap their hands or ring bells in appreciation for healthcare professionals delivering essential services. Two days later, a 21-day nation-wide lockdown was imposed as a preventive measure against the coronavirus. The lockdown was extended three times till May 31. In June, PM Modi announced that the lockdown phase is over and the process of 'unlock' has begun.

2 Stand-off continues with China on eastern frontier; 20 Indian soldiers martyred

This was the first time casualties were reported on LAC since the 1962 war. The Tension between Indian and Chinese troops stationed on the LAC in Ladakh has been on the rise since early summer. Things came to blows on June 15, when PLA troops, armed with barbed clubs and iron rods attacked Indian soldiers on a patrol. In a fist-fight that lasted nearly six hours, the 16th Bihar Regiment defended bravely against the aggressive Chinese forces, despite losing 20 soldiers, including the commanding officer. The Chinese side has not officially acknowledged the casualties on its side, but several sources have put the number at 35 or more. Multiple rounds of talks have taken place since, both at local military and diplomatic levels, but the standoff is yet to be broken. Both sides have amassed troops and heavy equipment on their respective sides.

3 First quarter GDP contracts by 23.9%

For the first time in forty years, the GDP slipped into negative. India's GDP growth for the first quarter (ended June 30) of financial year 2020-21 suffered the largest quarterly slump of 23.9%. The sharp contraction in GDP numbers is mainly due to closure of business activity during the quarter owing to nationwide lockdowns to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The GDP figure stood at 3.1 percent in the January-March period (Q4) of the financial year 2019-20. The economy grew by 5.2 per cent in the same period last fiscal.

4 PM Narendra Modi lays the foundation stone of Ram temple

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the Bhumi Pujan of the Ram temple to be constructed at Ayodhya, on August 5. At the ceremony, he laid the 40-kg silver brick to mark the start of the construction. The 161-feet high temple, once completed, would be one of the largest Hindu shrines. The PM also unveiled a plaque to mark the laying of the foundation stone and released a commemorative postage stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'.

5 New farm laws and the protests

The three laws to reform the agriculture sector met with resistance from within the NDA and outside. Long-time ally SAD walked out of the alliance over the issue. It has also become a rallying point for opposition parties. Among the concerns voiced by the farmers and the opposition parties were 'corporatisation' of the farm sector and doing away with MSP. 

Things took up a different dimension when the farmers themselves hit the road in late November to protest the new laws. Thousands of farmers are still camping in bitter cold on roads and highways leading upto the capital to demand a repeal of the new laws.

6 Communal riots in Delhi claims 42 lives

More than 40 people died in one of the worst communal riots seen in the capital since the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. On the night of February 23, clashes between pro- and the anti-CAA groups in Delhi's Jafrabad turned communal and spread across the northeast Delhi over the next four days. In the ensuing violence, 42 people, including a policeman and an IB personnel, lost their lives, while hundreds were injured and shops and houses burnt or destroyed. Delhi Police faced criticism for its ineffective handling of the riots. Hundreds of people have been arrested or detained so far in connection with the violence.

7 New Education Policy unveiled

In July, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the National Education Policy 2020, paving the way for reforms in both school and higher education sectors. The new policy replaced the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.

8 Delhi and Bihar state elections

The NDA came up trumps in the Bihar assembly polls, narrowly edging past the Mahagathbandhan alliance led by RJD's Tejashwi Yadav. In a battle that went down to the wires, NDA secured 125 seats against the opposition alliance's 110. The RJD emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats, followed closely by BJP with 74. 
In Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal repeated its stellar performance of 2015, and won 62 of the 70-seat Delhi assembly. BJP, which had won three seats in 2015, secured victory on eight seats.

9 Court acquits all 32 accused in 1992 Babri mosque demolition case

On September 30, 28-years after the Babri Masjid was razed, a court acquitted all 32 accused – including BJP veterans LK Advani, MM Joshi and Uma Bharti – of being involved in the demolition of the mosque. In a judgment that ran to 2,300 pages with enclosures, the special CBI court said there was no conclusive evidence against the 32 accused of being involved in any conspiracy to bring down the disputed structure in Ayodhya.

10 Anti-CAA/NRC protests continue

This was the biggest agitation against the ruling NDA government since it came to power in 2014. 

The anti-CAA/NRC protests which started in the national capital in 2019, continued into 2020. Protesters staged a 24X7 sit-in at several places in the capital, including Shaheen Bagh. The protests, calling for a repeal of the Citizenship Act and the National Register of Citizens also took place in several other cities. The protests came to an end in March following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

11 Namaste Trump event greets US president in India

The event marked an important milestone in India-US relations. On February 24, 25, US President Donald Trump arrived in India to attend the 'Namaste Trump' event in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The US President, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump also visited the Taj Mahal in Agra before heading to the national capital. Later, he attended a dinner banquet hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind. During the visit, President Trump discussed several key issues with PM Modi such as 5G connectivity and trade deals, and also signed a $3 billion defence deal.

12 India registers 1 crore coronavirus cases 

India became the second-worst affected country after the US in terms of number of confirmed cases. In a span of 323 days, since the first virus was detected in India on January 30, the total number of infections in India crossed the 1 crore mark in December. The virus reached every corner of the country within months and by mid-September, the country was registering over 90,000 cases every day. 
So far, over 145,000 people have lost their life to the infections. Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala were some of the hardest hit states. Efforts to bring out a vaccine have been going on at breakneck speed. As per latest reports, India is soon to authorise the use of the vaccine outside the trial process.

===Three major developments===
[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIDEL%2F2020%2F12%2F26&entity=Ar01716&sk=0DBB013F&mode=text  Indrani Bagchi, December 26, 2020: ''The Times of India'']

This year began with soul searching on a “world disorder”. As it comes to a close, the pandemic is still with us, mutant strains and vaccines jostling for space. The Chinese are still on our borders, giving “expansionism” new life and “wolf warriors” new voice.
In between Covid surges, geopolitics, wars and economies have moved on to embrace new normals. All of them have implications for Indian foreign and security policies in the coming year, and all of them call for India stepping up to take much bolder steps in 2021. Three issues come to mind.

China is digging in. In eastern Ladakh and even Arunachal Pradesh, China is putting infrastructure and logistics in place for nothing short of a siege. A stand-off/ confrontation has been thrust on India. India has made certain that China will not prevail – India is preparing for a Sumdorong Chu-type situation at best, at worst open conflict.

Is China on a massive overreach? On the face of it, no. Its economy has rebounded after it successfully exported Covid to the rest of the world and managed it ruthlessly at home. Joe Biden may be a less troublesome US president than Donald Trump (who frankly should be credited for calling out China and its scamming off of the global system). China already sees an opportunity to play John Kerry, Biden’s climate czar, to advance its interests in the same way Taliban did with Zalmay Khalilzad.

The world is undeniably circling the wagons. We didn’t pay adequate attention to Trump’s award of merit medals to the Quad prime ministers – it cemented the core of the Indo-Pacific as much as the Malabar exercises (with Australia) did. As the Quad gets more comfortable with each other and builds military muscle, China’s swanning around in the South China Sea will become more difficult. For instance, its militarised islands could become valid targets.

India’s new maritime theatre command will be able to leverage India’s natural geostrategic advantages vis-à-vis China in the Indo-Pacific. US sanctions on Chinese tech companies – from Huawei to SMIC this week – will have an adverse impact on China’s tech advances, as well as its overseas markets.

China underestimated how badly the Hong Kong crisis played in the rest of the world, even if Asia (including India) cravenly shut up. Taiwan is everyone’s favourite Chinese again. US Congress just pushed through a Taiwan support legislation with bipartisan approval. With countries like India and Indonesia, not to speak of Japan and Singapore, all doing their own Taiwan outreach, Beijing is facing a different kind of pressure. Xi Jinping can mount a military offensive against Taiwan, but again, no victory awaits.

Tibet is back on the US table as well, with a new resolution that puts reincarnation within the Dalai Lama’s remit and not the CCP. That should open the door to others to de-legitimise China’s assertion that only the Party can decide on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Joe Biden may be a more “moderate” voice on China but America’s tough stance is unlikely to change. The incoming NSA, Jake Sullivan, has already warned the EU against going ahead with its investment treaty with China. France has backed out, as has Poland. Go figure.

But, as Rana Mitter writes this week, “The biggest obstacle China will face is China’s own authoritarian turn. Beijing’s commitment to that aspect of China’s core identity will make it far harder for the other three nucleotides – consumerism, global ambitions, and technology – of its DNA to recombine successfully.” Xi is an autocrat with an enormous appetite for risk. This will make the coming years more fraught for China as well as others.

The second thing that changed this year is the nature of war. The six-week battle for the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was won by Azerbaijan’s technological superiority and not by heavy Russian tanks, is an inflexion point that will be dissected by military analysts. Electronic warfare or network warfare has jumped out of scholarly articles into the real world.

For India struggling to modernise its armed forces, leap-frogging technologies is an imperative, particularly as the new theatres of conflict may well be the barren snowscapes of Ladakh, high seas, space or ethernet. India will not dominate these frontier areas without being an active participant in the technological revolutions underway in several other countries.

That brings us to the third issue that changed this year which has implications for India’s future. “Trust” is the new buzzword for economic and tech engagement. The pandemic has spurred diversification from traditional free trade and globalisation to trusted, fair and reciprocal trade, shorter value chains, greater self-reliance.

While that may have implications for China, it has equal and opposite implications for India.

India is learning to weaponise its own market. India’s national security directive for telecom naming “trusted” entities caps a year of determined decoupling efforts beginning with the RCEP walkout, which would deny China access to the biggest growing market and investment destination in the world.

India showed willingness to pay the cost – New Delhi refused to let GM sell its Talegaon plant to China’s Great Wall Motors – instead took a hit. But there is a flip side – India has to adopt predictable rules and regulatory frameworks to be more attractive to the countries it wants – EU, Gulf, UK and US. India’s tax regime is the stuff of nightmares, contract enforcement is iffy, reforms are started but not completed. The government’s economic managers do not inspire confidence. At the risk of repetition, the economy is strategic.

Until then, keep calm and drink Australian wine.