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From the early indications so far available, the New Year—2025— is all set to be tumultuous for all nations. India must be wary and take every possible caution and steps to navigate the forthcoming year of uncertainty. The USA, with its sheer size and weight in the world economy and power equation, matters for all. The president-elect’s esoteric doctrines, which can be pieced together from his constant verbal output, is about to introduce a new world order and system.

Even at the risk of uttering a cliché, filmmaker Shyam Benegal was in a class of his own. A path-breaker, he took his audience to places where they had never been before. And this is no sweetener to enhance the reputation of a man who is no more.

The United States Congress has recently passed a horrific piece of legislation calling for the infusion into the nation’s public school system of a curriculum that teaches middle and high school students about the alleged evils of communism, including the absurd claim that communists have killed 100 million people.

In 2024, India introduced a legal reform with the implementation of three new criminal laws, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BNA) (criminal laws) replacing the existing Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, respectively.

India’s National Human Rights Commission has been losing its global credibility very fast. Since June 1, 2024, the post of NHRC Chairperson has been lying vacant and its re-accreditation with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) was deferred for 12 months, for a second consecutive year. Now, on December 23, the Union Government has announced the appointment of its Chairperson and other members, triggering a new controversy.

Perplexed with Amit Shah's statement on Dr Ambedkar in the Parliament, the drama created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the entrance gate of the Parliament and later registering an FIR against Rahul Gandhi was a very low level and reprehensible act with the aim to divert the attention of the people. While there are CCTV cameras at every nook and corner in the premises of the Parliament, no CCTV footage of the incident has been shown that the BJP is clamouring for. This proves falsehood in the claim of the BJP against Rahul Gandhi.

RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat is desperate to fix the soup he has landed in. His advice to Hindu society to refrain from raking up temple-mosque is part of this course-correction exercise. While suggesting to neo-Hindutva crusaders to refrain from raking up such issues, Bhagwat also cautioned that nobody can become a "leader of Hindus" by continuing to "raise temple-mosque disputes.”

He was found dead in his cell in the prison where he was brought just two days before his exams started. The reports said he died of shock from multiple injuries. His fault was that he belonged to a Dalit family and wanted to be like Babasaheb Ambedkar. On December 10, when a desecrated copy of the Constitution was found near the statue of Dr Ambedkar, a protest was launched in Parbhani in Maharashtra. Police arrested indiscriminately.

Introduced in the 1960s, the yellow Ambassador taxis, which had come to be synonymous with Kolkata, are at the end of the road. Come March, 2025 most of this nearly 7,000 fleet will be off the road following a Supreme Court order of 2009 together with the fact that Ambassador cars have ceased to be produced.

On November 8, 2024, the Chhattisgarh government issued a gazette notification declaring the Moolvasi Bachao Manch (MBM) as an ‘unlawful organisation’ under its Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). Like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, the CSPSA empowers the government to proscribe organisations which, in its opinion, are engaged in unlawful activities.