The Congress may not have regained all that it had lost but the party recovered its voice in 2015. Doubtless, Rahul Gandhi worked hard for this recovery. Surprise result in Bihar poll showed a windfall for the Congress even though the party had to sublimate itself to regional players.

Five assembly elections are due in 2016— West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam and Kerala. BJP is expected to be a key player only in Assam. Poll outcome is West Bengal and Tamil Nadu is written on the wall. No force can defeat Mamata and Jayalalithaa’s victory is certain in her state. In Kerala, it is likely to be neck-and-neck race between the Congress and the Marxists. According to electoral pattern, the Congress CPI-M rule the state alternately. In the coming election there is lot of infighting in the ranks of the Marxists and this gives slight advantage to the Congress.

Diplomatically, India had a good 2015, capped off by Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore to meet Nawaz Sharif. A new break though in relations with Pakistan is welcome to mark the end of 2015. India and Pakistan started an NSA-level conversation on terrorism, blessed by Pakistan’s army. The year gone by also saw border clashes with Bangladesh finally being settled; India’s standing shoulder to shoulder with Nepal after its massive earthquake, and issues around Nepal’s constitution finally showed signs of resolution. India was also seen, along with US and China, powering the final agreement on climate change in Paris.

Though the state of economy has been a topic of hot discussion, 2015 may well go down as the year when the nature of business and work culture in India changed forever. India is today in the midst of a quiet transformation. Our country is entering an era where traditional forms of business are not just making space but also getting ready to compete with, or collaborate with, disruptive new ideas.

Retail, travel, accommodation, housing, food, services and even development and infrastructure, are undergoing a dramatic makeover, thanks to a growing army of young entrepreneurs, all brimming with ideas, all determined to make a mark by being their own bosses rather than working as executives in a company. As they fill unseen gapes in the market, the numbers tell a story. About 1,200 start-ups were launched in the technology space alone in 2015 - 40 per cent more than the previous year. NASSCOM estimates that three to four IT start-ups are born every year in India. Together, they have attracted investments between $6.5 billion this year, up from $2billion in 2014. India is behind only the US and Britain in terms of new tech start-ups.

The mid-year analysis for 2015-16 by the Economic Division in the Ministry of Finance indicates that Indian economy is on the verge of a breakthrough; private consumption and government investment have made headway but private investment and exports are lagging behind. While road building has increased and schemes for startups hold promise, job creation and rural wage growth will be key issues in 2016.

The 2016 budget will therefore be crucial. It must prove to be the ‘transformation’ budget that was promised but not delivered this year. Equally important is the GST bill that has remained hostage to parliamentary disruption despite broad political consensus on it. While the Congress is now paying BJP back in its own coin with politics of obstruction in opposition, political parties must find a way of doing crucial business in Parliament and it will be up to the government to take the lead. In this too, the new year will be a crucial test for the Prime Minister and his government.

In sports, this was a year of Sania Mirza who became World No 1 in tennis doubles with Martina Hingis, Sania Nehwal contining her dizzying spell at the top of the badminton world, and the end of the Srinivasan era in BCCI. The IPL clean-up was a much-needed corrective. Politics aside, the current AAP-BJP fighting over the mess in DDCA shows how much more needs to be done to clean Indian cricket. This year also saw the beginning of the end of the Dhoni era, with Virat Kohli making a good start as Test captain. (IPA Service)