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As 2022 rolls over for 2023 the Opposition has to declare a PM-face. There is no other option for the opposition parties but to fight Narendra Modi unitedly. Consider it a fait accompli, something that has been decided, and all that remains is to make it public. Fait accompli forecloses any opposition. The decision has been taken, period. As the Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi would say, “Full-stop, Ta-Ta, Bye-Bye!”

Judicial academicians will do well to bring out the correlation, if any, between the tenure of Supreme Court chief justices and the quality of decisions pronounced during their respective tenures. The year 2022 would be a rich resource for any such study as it saw three different CJIs at the helm and interestingly, all the three accounted for landmark verdicts, all of which were different from one another in terms of their implications for the Executive and commitment towards it.

The transition has been relatively smooth. Enough for P T Usha to flash that trademark smile at everyone present at Olympic Bhavan, headquarters of Indian Olympic Association in Delhi. Dressed in a beige tussore salwar kameez with a smart floral jacket on a wintry Saturday, Usha walked into the history books once again—she became the first Olympian and woman to be IOA President. The 58-year-old, a multiple Asian Games gold medallist who came fourth in 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, ushers an era of hope in Indian sport. An era where athletes administer the game, and do so for the betterment of Indian sport.

Qatar 2022 put the myth of a separation of sports and politics to bed. Like in Qatar, human, worker, and LGBT rights are likely to be left, right, and centre as other Gulf and North African states move centre stage as hosts of and bidders for some of the world’s foremost mega-sporting events, the 2030 World Cup and the 2036 Olympics, and major Asian tournaments, including the Asian Cup and the Asian Games.

Thanking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 27 for getting the UNO to announce 2023 as the International Year of Millets, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said, “The more the practice of eating millets increases, the more the side effects of crops produced by chemicals will reduce.” As it appears, Indian government ministries, parliamentarians, Indian diplomatic missions abroad, and bureaucrats are promoting the production and consumption of millet in a concerted manner. Celebrities and startups are also being roped in to be part of this year-long program.

New rules are set in 2022 for an entirely new dynamics of education in India. Implementation process of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 were reviewed in a meeting in May 2022 chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which elicited detailed plans from educations leaders for achieving the goals. Thereafter, education sector of the country has been changing fast with the rolling out of new rules across the country and education institutions. The country is all set to see and feel the impact of the new dynamics in operation in 2023.

The vision of founding fathers has ensured that the Indian economy developed wherewithal and resilience to weather the storm from time to time. The economy has developed unique ability to convert challenges into opportunity, be it food shortage of the 1950 and 1960s that led to green revolution, 1962 Chinese aggression that ensured that Indian armed forces acquired the necessary wherewithal, the 1991 balance of payment crisis, that led to far-reaching economic reforms. India weathered 1998 US economic sanctions after Nuclear explosion or the East Asian currency meltdown or the 2008 global financial crisis or the latest Covid-19 Pandemic.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala CPI(M)’s decision to undertake a massive rectification campaign has energized the party like never before.

Universal health coverage (UHC) by 2022 has miserably failed in India. The year that is closing to an end, rather brought a costlier healthcare with price hike of even essential medicines, equipment and services. Deterioration of public healthcare system continued, and the country moved further toward privatization of district hospitals. Public health suffered in between unaffordable cost of private hospitals and increased difficulties in getting quality healthcare in public health facilities.

The day Union Home Ministry took away the investigation in the Bhima Koregaon case from the Maharashtra police and handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) it became explicit that the home minister has some ominous designs. This was not simply an endeavour to unearth the so called plan behind the violence that took place in 2018.