Indian grain, software brains in high demand

India has been insisting on makers of smartphones to become compatible with its home-grown navigation system within months. This has sent alarm signals among the giants like Samsung, Xiaomi and Apple who foresee disruptions and increased costs because of hardware changes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's drive for self-reliance is pushing India to break not just business barriers but also technological limitations. There is a new assertiveness to India's global positioning but unlike that of say, China. That is a country that seeks to overwhelm everyone in its race to reach the top through any means including blackmail, cajoling and warnings.

The Indian story is different. Not just in going in for Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), its regional navigation satellite system, even in its reforms in the defence sector, India has made significant progress now. Though it is nowhere near what the other countries like China spend, the Indian story could be said to have begun.

But, India's story is not about its defence sector alone. The respect that India commands today, not only among the global elite and powerful, but also among the smaller, underdeveloped and developing countries, is remarkable.

In this regard 2022 would certainly go down as a benchmark year. If today, both Ukraine and Russia, which are at war over NATO interference in the region, regard India as key to any resolution, it goes to prove how its independent stand earned that respect.

It is not just in this case but in dealing with the fall-out of the clash too India displayed its skills as never before. The European Union and the US tried their best to needle India on the Russian oil issue, but the Indian Foregin Minister Jaishankar, held the mirror back, silencing them forever. He reminded them famously this year that Europe buys more oil in one afternoon than what India buys in a month from Russia.

There was clamour for hauling India over the coals in the US, but its government only ended up appeasing India further. The US needs India as never before in countering China yet the former was not blackmailed. India only reasoned with the US while asserting its independent stand.

Indian grain was much in demand and so were the software brains from India. India has faced a severe onslaught globally due to post-truth politics and Left and liberal biases. Social media and the regular media of the West went whole hog against India over its perceived notions of majoritarianism and genocide of minorities. Yet, the unflinching Indian resolve to counter the arguments at all arenas including the UN and UNSC with facts and statistics kept silencing the critics.

2022 saw India insisting on the world sharing the best practices and building on existing frameworks such as the global Counterterrorism Forum's (GCTF) "Berlin Memorandum on Good Practices to Counter Terrorist use of UAS (Unamanned Aircraft Systems).'.

India's current tenure at the UNSC will be coming to an end this year and the Centre only made dedicated efforts to make the most of the opportunity. Either in hosting a 'No Money for Terror' conference in New Delhi and in holding a UNSC briefing on challenges in this front, India succeeded in creating a global goodwill for it. The success could be attributed more to its balanced views and unbiased criticism of those encouraging terror modules or encouraging the non-State players.

The India Africa Defence Dialogue held at Gandhinagar brought the African nations closer to India and in the immediate neighbourhood too its measured moves and practical views earned India much acclaim.

It also prioritized connectivity with Bangladesh, showed Pakistan and China their rightful place, played its cares straight and right with UK and the US in its commerce and stood by its friends despite heavy odds. It reflected its confidence levels. Countries fearing Chinese moves in the Indo-Pacific region got closer to India by signing defence deals too. Today its LCAs and Brahmos are going places.

India joined the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for its eighth term as a non-permanent member. India secured 184 votes in the 193-member General Assembly, including all the 55 votes of the Asia-Pacific Group. This massive support can be seen as a befitting acknowledgement of India's growing prominence at the high tables. India's membership came at a time of intensifying great power rivalry and increased anti-multilateral sentiments. The Ukraine war, for instance, has exposed deep divisions in the UNSC. In addition, issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change have exacerbated the predicament of multilateral institutions. Consequently, the challenge before India was to help the UNSC to reinvigorate multilateralism. India's voting response shows that it contributed to expanding the UNSC agenda.

Concerning the resolutions that were adopted through a vote, India cast an affirmative vote on nearly 90 per cent of them. Similarly, India always abstained with other member states and has resorted to abstentions only to showcase its reservation on a particular issue. In short, the 16 years of UNSC experience is an added credential for its claim for permanent membership in the Council, going by the experts' views in the field. India today occupies almost all the high tables of the diplomatic world. It has assumed charge as the head of the G-20 grouping too emphasising on inclusivism.

Celebrating its Azadi ki Amrit Mahotsav, India's narrative is undergoing its broadest shift since independence. It has become assertive with its national pride playing a key role. In several rescue operations including the one in Ukraine, India played a lead role evacuating not only its citizens but also those from other countries including Pakistan.

8 billion population

The world's population reached 8 billion, growing by 1 billion in the last dozen years and reflecting the rapid population spike of the past few decades. While it took hundreds of thousands of years for the world's population to reach 1 billion, the world grew from 7 billion to 8 billion just since 2010, a reflection of advancements in health.

Academy Awards slapped

During the 94th Academy Awards, actor Will Smith walked onstage and slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face during Rock's presentation for Best Documentary Feature. The slap was in response to Rock's joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith's bald head, which she had been shaving since 2021 due to alopecia areata. Smith returned to his seat and shouted profanity at Rock, who briefly responded, but completed his presentation without further interruption.  

132 dead in China air crash

A China Eastern Airlines passenger plane carrying 132 people crashed in southern China, shortly after losing contact with air traffic control and dropping thousands of metres in under three minutes. China Eastern flight MU5735 from the city of Kunming to the southern hub of Guangzhou "lost airborne contact over Wuzhou" in the Guangxi region , according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). 

Boris booze apology

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson extended a heartfelt apology in the House of Commons in response to growing anger around reports of a bring-your-own-booze (BYOB) party in the 10 Downing Street garden during the height of the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown in May 2020. Johnson has been under intense pressure from the Opposition Labour Party as members of his own Conservative Party since an email invitation for the event emerged in the media.

Elon Musk buys twitter

The world's richest man, Elon Musk, completed his $44bn (£38.1bn) takeover of Twitter, according to a filing with the US government. Musk tweeted "the bird is freed" and later said "let the good times roll". A number of top executives, including the boss, Parag Agrawal, were fired. The completion of the deal brings to an end months of legal wrangling but it has prompted questions over the platform's future direction. A filing was made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming the takeover.

Imran ousted

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has been ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership. Vote took place after the country's Supreme Court ruled in favour of opposition parties and said that Khan had acted unconstitutionally. Imran survived a shooting at a political rally that his party called an assassination attempt, which killed one person and injured several others and prompted protests among Khan's supporters.

Russia invades ukraine

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which had begun in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides and caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II with an estimated 8 million people being displaced within the country by late May as well as 7.8 million Ukrainians fleeing the country.

Shinzo Abe assassinated 

Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan and a serving member of the House of Representatives, was assassinated on 8 July 2022 while speaking at a political event outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. While delivering a campaign speech for a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) candidate, he was shot from behind at close range by a man with a homemade firearm. Abe was transported by a medical helicopter to Nara Medical University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Pakistan floods

Severe floods in Pakistan killed 1,739 people, and caused ₨ 3.2 trillion ($14.9 billion) of damage and ₨ 3.3 trillion ($15.2 billion) of economic losses. The immediate causes of the floods were heavier than usual monsoon rains and melting glaciers that followed a severe heat wave, both of which are linked to climate change. 

Sunak new UK PM

United Kingdom got its first ever non-white PM in Rishi Sunak , the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Britain's youngest PM in recent times, after the resignations of Liz Truss and Boris Johnson. Sunak, 42, is of Indian descent and was born to parents who migrated to Britain from East Africa. The former investment banker and hedge fund manager will have the daunting task of trying to get the British economy back on the rails while attempting to unite the Conservative Party which has produced three Prime Ministers in under two months.

1,163 dead in Afghan quake

At least 1,163 people died and more than 6,000 others were injured throughout eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, making it the deadliest earthquake of 2022 and the deadliest in Afghanistan since 1998. At least 10,000 homes had collapsed or were severely damaged. The earthquake was very destructive relative to its magnitude due to its shallow hypocenter underneath a densely populated area prone to landslides, in which low-quality buildings made of wood and mud are not earthquake-resistant.

South Korea crowd crush

On the night of 29 October 2022, a crowd crush occurred during Halloween festivities in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea. At least 158 people were killed and 196 others were injured.The victims were mostly young adults. The crowd crush is the deadliest disaster in South Korea since the sinking of MV Sewol in 2014 and the largest mass casualty event in Seoul since the Sampoong Department Store collapse in 1995. It is the deadliest crowd crush in the country, surpassing a 1959 incident at the Pusan Municipal Stadium in which 67 people were crushed to death.

Monkeypox outbreak

An ongoing outbreak of monkeypox, a viral disease, was confirmed in May 2022. The initial cluster of cases was found in the United Kingdom, where the first case was detected in London in a patient with a recent travel history from Nigeria (where the disease is endemic). The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the recent monkeypox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, as the number of reported cases exceeds 17,000 in 75 countries.

Ranil new Lanka PM

Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lankan Prime Minister for the sixth time as the island nation faces political and economic crises. His appointment comes days after Mahinda Rajapaksa, brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, vacated the position amid riots triggered by his supporters. Wickremesinghe, 73, is the scion of an elite family whose roots go back to pre-independence Sri Lanka, where his maternal grandfather DR Wijewardena published a series of newspapers supporting the independence movement. His paternal grandfather, CG Wickremesinghe, was the most senior Sri Lankan colonial government servant.

Pig heart transplant

The world's first porcine-to-human heart transplantation was performed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD, USA), where a genetically modified pig heart was successfully transplanted into a 57-year-old man in the end stage of heart disease. After highly experimental surgery, the patient was able to move about freely in the absence of cardiopulmonary bypass assistance. But the patient's condition began deteriorating, and died two months after the transplant surgery.

Queen Elizabeth II dies

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years. The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change. Charles, formerly known as Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, became king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. King Charles is known for his previous marriage to the late Princess Diana. The couple has two children, Prince William and Prince Harry.

Wuhan Covid connection 

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on China gain in 2022 to share the requested data concerning Covid-19 in a bid to understand the origins of the virus. "We continue to call on China to share the data and conduct the studies that we have requested, to better understand the origins of this virus," the WHO chief said.

Rushdie stabbed 

On August 12, 2022, a man stabbed novelist Salman Rushdie multiple times as he was about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, United States. Rushdie was gravely wounded and hospitalized. Interviewer Henry Reese was also injured by the attacker. Rushdie, an Indian-born British-American, was threatened with death in 1989, a year after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, when the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his assassination and set a bounty of $3 million for his death.

James telescope

NASA revealed the first full-colour images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The images included the "deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far". According to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, "Webb will help to uncover the answers to questions we don't even yet know to ask."

Iran hijab row 

22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died at a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the religious morality police of Iran's government, arrested Amini for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards. The Law Enforcement Command of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that she had a heart attack at a police station, collapsed, and fell into a coma before being transferred to a hospital. Iran witnessed widespread civil unrest and protests, following the death of Amini.