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Rajiv Gandhi
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The Mandal Fiasco When Prime Minister V. P. Singh decided to implement the B.P. Mandal recommendations on job quotas for the backwards and the underprivileged in 1990, he unleashed a wave of anger among the student community which felt its interests would suffer in the process. Nationwide protests, road blockades as well as immolations shocked the nation. The political parties lacked the courage to oppose the idea for fear of upsetting their vote banks. Critics of the recommendations pointed out that such reservations never achieved the desired results. Whether caste or economic backwardness should be the criteria for job quota is an issue that still rages. | |
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Terror Attack
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Osama bin Laden It was only when evidence surfaced that the terrorist bombing of the WTC in New York was the brainchild of Al Qaeda terrorist network head Osama bin Laden that the world knew about the sinister designs of the Islamic fundamentalist group. With his flowing, long beard, Osama hardly looked the Satan he was sought to be projected by the Western media. But when the video clops of his venomous speeches were released, it was clear that here was a man possessed by the thought of punishing the U. S. A. for its alleged misdeeds towards the Islamic community, especially those in West Asia. All the hi-tech sensors of the U. S. military machine could not detect the hiding spots of the elusive Laden during the Afghan war. | |
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Gujarat Rocked
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Orissa Cyclone The cyclone also destroyed the livelihood of the coastal city’s farming community — it saturated more than 1 million hectares of cropland under salty water and killed some 406,000 livestock. Millions of people who eked out their living on the land were left homeless and without a means of survival. The cyclone struck just three weeks before the harvest; almost all the plantations in this mostly agricultural community — paddy fields, sugar cane and vegetable crops — were destroyed. Life also has yet to return to normal for thousands of children who survived the cyclone, UNICEF said in a recent report. Some 11,000 schools were destroyed or damaged and thousands of students have been unable to attend classes since the disaster. | |
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The Kargil War
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Parliament House attacked The world had hardly recovered from the horror of the September 11 WTC bombing in the US, when there was a terrorist attack on Parliament House . Breaching security, a group of militants armed with automatic rifles nearly reached the gates of the Central Hall of Parliament, where a session was on. But the brave retaliation by the security men posted at the building resulted in the death of all the militants. Some cops lost their lives in the process, but the MPs could be safely escorted out. Though the hand of the ISI was suspected, the Indian government preferred a diplomatic offensive and snapped bus, rail links with Pakistan and banned flights over India. As the US still had its troops stationed after the war with the Taliban regime, President Bush and his team of top advisers advised restraint on the part of India. A near-war situation was defused. | |
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Ayodhya Temple of controversy While the question whether a temple or mosque existed at a disputed land at Ayodhya is yet to be settled, the row acquired dangerous dimensions when hordes of kar sevaks, razed to the ground the Babri Mosque in a bid to claim the land for the temple. The demolition in December 1992, led to countrywide protests and riots. While the Congress government at the Centre under Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, blamed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh led by Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, the opposition parties accused Rao of complicity with extreme Hindutva groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. The dispute which has caused lot of embarrassment to the BJP which is currently heading the NDA coalition at the Centre, is now in the courts. The regular hearing of the contending parties could take a few years and it is not certain if the parties concerned will accept the legal verdict as final as the matter has religious overtones. | |
Rajiv Gandhi became India’s sixth and
youngest prime minister when his mother, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated
in October 1984. During his years as prime minister, Gandhi pioneered
people-centered approaches to address the issues of poverty and hunger,
and took new initiatives in literacy, education and culture. Rajiv
Gandhi originally proposed strengthening local self-government and
reservation for women. This was realised in the 73rd and 74th
Amendments, introduced in 1992, one year after he was killed in a
terrorist bombing. 
Americans will never be able to forget the terrorist attack in New York
and Washington on September 11, 2001, that destroyed the magnificent
twin towers of the World Trade Centre as well as the Pentagon military
complex. The hijacked planes, piloted by the trained men of the Al Qada,
plunged into towering complexes flattening them in a few hours.
Thousands were buried under the debris. The daring terror attack exposed
the chinks in U. S. intelligence. A deeply hurt and angry nation wanted
reprisals. U. S. President George Bush vowed to bring the perpetrators
of the evil deed to justice and soon waged a war against Afghanisatan,
to hunt down the mastermind Osama bin Laden and destroy the Taliban war
machine. Though the Taliban forces have been destroyed, Osama remains
elusive, perhaps plotting another retaliation strike. 
While the country was celebrating the customary Republic Day holiday on
January 26, 2001, a tragedy of great magnitude struck Gujarat. Thousands
of people were killed in sleep and property worth millions damaged in a
devastating earthquake. One of the prosperous States in the country,
Gujarat was suddenly the epicentre of human misery. As shock after shock
ravaged the major towns as well as villages, the government had to
appeal for international help for relief and rescue operations. Though
falling in the quake-prone belt, it was clear that sufficient
precautions had not been taken to build shock-proof structures which
collapsed like a pack of cards. 
The intrusion by the
Pakistani troops into the strategically important Kargil sector in the
summer of 2000, will go down in the history as one of the glaring
instances of backstabbing. That it happened soon after Prime Minister
Vajpayee went to the border to inaugurate the bus service to Lahore,
served to prove the treacherous nature of the rulers of Pakistan. Even
while India was hoping for the peace process with Pakistan to start, the
Indian forces were taken unawares by the blatant action by the enemy. It
was a chance for the Indian forces to show their valour and they did not
let down the country. Fighting against odds with the Pakistani forces
who had the advantage of the height, the young Indian soldiers captured
back the territory and pushed back the rival forces. Still, there were
many unanswered questions on why the Indian intelligence failed to
detect the infiltration in time.