It’s been two years since the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the globe and impacted our lifestyle immensely. On the brink of New Year, it’s necessary to rewind the major events, including the new waves of Covid-19 and learn from them to ascertain the future aspects. The year 2021 was quite similar to 2020 when novel coronavirus outbreak halted the global economies and Indian economy was no exception.
In March 2021, the new Delta variant arrived and caused thousands of deaths across the country. However, the economy grew at a record pace of 20.1 per cent, despite the shutdown. The major push was recorded in the manufacturing and construction sector.
Steel sector played a pivotal role for the nation in terms of employment generation and economic growth. The industry has a multiplier effect on the economy, and it also beefs up supply chain exponentially. India produces the largest amount of crude steel in the world. To help the industries, government in 2020 revised the policy of domestic manufacturing and PLI was launched to boost domestic production.
The country this year marked new achievements in Olympics. Neeraj Chopra created history by winning gold medal in Javelin Throw at Tokyo Olympics. India won 4 Bronze, 2 Silver and 1 gold this year. Apart from Olympics, India ended up winning 19 medals including 5 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze in Tokyo Paralympics 2021.
Indian politics also observed major changes this year. Six chief ministers from five states in India were replaced since March 2021. Five of them were replaced before the completion of their terms. States where the ministers were changed include Uttarakhand, Assam, Karnataka, Gujrat and Punjab. However, Assam’s minister was replaced upon the completion of his term.
The year 2021 also marked several climate disasters, which disrupted the lives of the locals. On May 14, 2021 a deadly tropical cyclone called “Tauktae” made a landfall in Gujrat displacing over 200,000 individuals. The cyclone killed 174 people. This was not enough, on September 24, 2021 Cyclone Gulab hit the Bay of Bengal. Over 46,000 individual were evacuated for safety reasons.
In 2021, several unexpected but deserving artists received Padma Shri award. Actor Kangana Ranaut, filmmaker Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor were among the 119 Padma awardees this year.
India, however, lost some prominent personalities this year. The Chief of Defense Staff of the Indian armed forces, General Bipin Rawat died on December 8, 2021 in a helicopter crash. India’s flying Singh Milkha Singh also lost his life to COVID-19. Indian television anchor Rohit Sardana also succumbed to COVID-19 this year.
There’s no doubt that 2021 was a challenging year but, with the lessons learnt, we should be strong and confident to enter 2022 with absolute optimism.
