Things to look forward to in 2016

Perhaps the greatest expectation which 2015 brought to most of Indians was that Team India, led by Captain Cool Dhoni, will succeed in retaining the Cricket World Cup.

However, despite a good performance, the men in blue fell a little short of the title. Nevertheless, 2015 also brought some major success for India internationally in many aspects.

With all its ups and downs, 2015 is now concluding. And the New Year will bring new expectations to all of us. So tell us your expectations from 2016 in the following:

Inflation and food prices

Throughout 2015, the prices of essential food items burned a hole in common man’s pocket. The worst was tur dal, which surpassed even chicken in terms of price. The governments of many states even cracked down on hoarders and the Centre ordered a large import of pulses.

Government schemes vis-a-vis jobs

One of the major poll promises of the Bharatiya Janata Party was to generate more and more jobs for the youth. In his maiden Budget Speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that programmes like Skill Development and Make in India will help create lots of jobs for the unemployed youth.

Clean India

Do you know that a part of what you pay to avail various services go to fund the government’s Swachh Bharat scheme? It’s been over a year since the scheme was launched but the Centre started levying Swachh Bharat cess from November 2015.

Will the ‘ban-wagon’ halt?

From beef to porn to documentaries and a couple of movies, we saw a lot of bans in 2015.

Free and unbiased Internet

Net neutrality, most of the Internet users are by now aware of this term. It refers to the Internet’s characteristic of not preferring a website over another i.e. all websites can be accessed at the same speed on a particular Internet connection. However, there have been attempts by some telecom companies to regulate the Internet in their favour after which the websites that will pay more would be more easily accessible. After a huge public outcry, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was forced to take public opinion on this matter.

Corrupt-free India

So far, the National Democratic Alliance regime has kept its ‘government-without-scams’ image intact. However, there were some major scams exposed in the states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party viz. Vyapam in Madhya Pradesh, the paddy scam in Chhattisgarh and the alleged involvement of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her son in the Lalit Modi controversy. No strong action as yet has been taken by the Centre or the BJP top brass in any of these issues. After Sushma Swaraj, now corruption allegations have been levelled against Arun Jaitley.

Black money

Black money, we’re all eagerly waiting for it. Why? Because we were promised that every Indian will get Rs 15 lakh if all the black money is brought back to India! No, we don’t want you to think on these lines, but do you think the efforts to ‘bring back’ black money or to get the full details of the money stashed in the Swiss Bank will be successful?

Politics and state polls

While in the 2014 state polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s juggernaut rolled on unabated with the party harping on the ‘Modi wave’, in 2015, first the drubbing in Delhi and then the decimation in Bihar gave double jolt to the BJP. The entire opposition came together in Bihar to attenuate the ‘Modi wave’ and termed the victory as the ‘beginning of the end of BJP’. In 2016, the states that will go to poll are Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The BJP is not a formidable force in any of these.

Women’s safety

It’s been three years since the brutal December 16 gang rape in New Delhi and two years since the law was amended to stipulate harsher punishment for crime against women. The rapists of the heinous crime were sentenced to death. Even then, there were 5,781 more incidents of rape in 2014 than in 2013, according to government reports.

The foul-mouths

Yogi Adityanath, Kailash Vijaywargiya, Sadhvi Prachi, Sakshi Maharaj, Azam Khan and so on. We heard a lot of loose-talking from our political leaders this year.

Relations with Pakistan

With incessant violations of the ceasefire by Pakistan, the relations between the neighbouring countries were mostly strained in 2015. However, of late, tensions began to ease and the two countries agreed to resume ‘comprehensive dialogue’. Still there has been no decision on the issue of a cricket series between India and Pakistan as yet.

Pollution and climate change

With an alarming rise in pollution levels this year, the Delhites struggled to breathe fresh air. Moreover, many theories and reports said that the devastating floods in Chennai were a direct result of climate change and El Nino. The Delhi government took several measures to curb pollution like banning odd-even number plate cars on alternate days. Other measures were ordered by the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court. Moreover, leaders of the world met in Paris and resolved to bring down pollution levels in their respective countries.

Donald Trump as US president?

Yes. We don’t know what will happen if Republican Donald Trump becomes the President of the United States next year. We don’t know whether President Trump be as outspoken and reckless as presidential hopeful Trump or he will change his style after assuming power.

Terrorism and refugee crisis

The world is threatened by the rise of Islamic State and its affiliate terror groups. The United States and the European countries, which are overwhelmed by the record number of refugees reaching their coasts, are bombing the targets of IS in Syria and Iraq.