New gold, old votes

God alone knows what made P. V. Narsimha Rao choose Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister in 1991. The two had much in common, quiet men who didn't oppose their bosses, and who went to great lengths to avoid controversy. Rao had, until then, done nothing remarkable, while Singh charted an anonymous existence as a bureaucrat. But, what a duo the two proved.

Rao craftily kept Sonia Gandhi in the sidelines, while Singh took to politics with gusto. He soon unleashed his New Economic Policy of liberalization and put India on the path to superpowerdom. Nehru's mixed economy was dunked as Singh opted for privatisation.

Though often debated, the policy became irreversible and even the Left had begun to accept it. Many sectors are booming, and India's growth has surprised many. Most astonishingly, Singh became Rao's best gift to India. Today, with backing from Sonia Gandhi, Singh ranks with Nehru, Indira, and V. P. Singh, as the most impactful Indian prime ministers.

Singh's policy spelt the end of the licence raj, and gave credence to enterprise. There are still plenty of hurdles, primary being infrastructure, but the policy of openness and liberalization seems set to be in place. The most visible impact of Singh's policies is the zooming Sensex. The middle-class investor is happy, the mutual fund sector is thriving, and all eyes are on the round II of reforms, which is expected to take prosperity to the rural hinterland.

Soviet Union is history

This was such a vast event that it could take a century to comprehend. With characteristic brevity, Gorbachev took just 10 minutes on live television in 1991 to announce the end of the Soviet Union and his consequent resignation. His perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) had begun as reform but ended up freeing many of USSR's constituent states.

On December 8, leaders of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus met in secret to disband the USSR and form a new union. On December 21, eight others joined it. They formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The CIS has since had a blow hot-blow cold relationship with Russia, and the United States oft en backs movements against CIS governments; seen as anti-US.

One crucial result of USSR's break-up is the independent deals that CIS states offer on the energy front. Many frontline countries, including India, seek gas from the CIS. In the past, it was a Soviet monopoly. Gorbachev is forgotten, and the USSR seen only in history lessons.

India disinvests to develop

Though the New Economic Policy was well enunciated, it still needed to be implemented. The first to go were old, ailing, public sector units that took away a huge chunk in salaries and were unproductive. They were a drain, but only now did the government act.

The Disinvestment process was set in place, first by having a department in the Finance Ministry, and then as a separate ministry in the NDA government. The brief: Sell PSUs and raise funds. The UPA government scrapped the Disinvestment Ministry but there's no going back. Even the Left parties have begun talking of 'restructuring' PSUs, an admission that all was not well. Now with the CPM also referring to the private sector with fondness, the days of PSU behemoths seem to be a distant memory.

Cold War is over

American journalist, Walter Lippmann, first coined the term Cold War in a book by this name, in 1947. The idea was that the relations between the USSR and the US, Britain and France had got so bad that it was like war minus the shooting.

Cold War lasted 50 years and divided the world. There were a thousand flashpoints, war appeared imminent at times, and espionage became prime policy. Finally, in 1992, the Russian President, Boris Yeltsin and the US President, George Bush, (the first) formally declared that their countries did not regard each other as potential enemies. To the world's relief, Cold War had ended. In time, John Le Carre began to write non-spy books.

Pakistan loses Kargil

Atal Behari Vajpayee went to Lahore in February 1999, as prime minister in a hyped visit for peace. While Vajpayee talked soft with his Pakistan counter - part, Nawaz Sharif , Pakistani soldiers took up positions in Kargil, Jammu & Kashmir. They were discovered belatedly, and as is documented, the war followed.

Hundreds of Indian men died as they tried to reach hilltops occupied by the Pakistanis. Finally, the Indian Air Force gave the Army muchneeded cover and ended the war, victorious, on July 26, 1999. Imagine the consequences of an Indian loss, and we know why this was so important. It took great persuasion behind the scenes, by Bill Clinton, to get Pakistan to back off . India was smarting but didn't venture into Pakistani territory. All's not well, even if it still ends well...

Apartheid ends

If you had a conscience and were politically aware, this was the day to cry. A last minute meeting on November 16, 1993, between Nelson Mandela and F. W. De Klerk, thrashed out an agreement on South Africa's new Constitution marking the end of the historic apartheid.

The colour of a man's skin would not shame him anymore, and the majority black population would rule as it should have, much earlier. Mandela took over as democratic South Africa's first president on May 10, 1994, and taught the world the value of truth and reconciliation. The great man led the way out of a potentially explosive situation with grace.

The Lotus Wilts

Atal Bihari Vajpayee's NDA government earned much ill-will for its overtly pro-Hindu approach that alienated secular Hindus as well. When the moment came, Vajpayee's juniors, like Pramod Mahajan, were blinded by the metro boom and rushed in for general elections, six months ahead of schedule. The results flattened the NDA, pushed it into a self-destructive pattern, and marked the return of secular forces. There were few mourners for the NDA, with even the RSS and the VHP blasting the BJP. Like V. P. Singh, the BJP may have pushed itself into long years of irrelevance.

Israel 4 peace

This was the big 1994 'land for peace' deal. At a ceremony in Cairo, Israel and Palestine signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement that led to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Israel vowed to turn territory over to the PA and the Palestinians pledged to prevent violence.

Generally, both lived up to the Agreement and Israel signed more pacts with Palestine. Israeli forces withdrew from Jericho and most of the Gaza Strip, and more than 95% of Palestinians in Judea, Samaria and Gaza came under the Palestinian administration by 1997.

Bandit King finally logs off

It took two readings before one could trust the news on one October day in 2004. Sandalwood smuggler, forest brigand, and multiple murderer Veerappan, was dead. After several comical near-misses, the Special Task Force finally got their man. It was a stroke of luck, how Veerappan walked into the trap. Perhaps he was weakened by emotions over an ailing aide. When surrounded, he started shooting and was killed in return firing. With that, ended a dreadful story of a criminal. The politicians who helped Veerappan are still around, though, and his ghost ain't troubling them.

Clinton scores home run

When the 'Comeback Kid' squashed Bob Dole, it was 60 years since a Democrat won a second successive term. Clinton rode the economic boom of his first-term, and by the time he stepped down in 2001, the US had a gross national product of $10,000 billion, a quarter of the world's economic output.

Though he became only the second US president to face impeachment for perjury, over the Monica Lewinsky affair, Clinton unbelievably stayed afloat and now there's a possibility that his wife Hillary may run for White House.

Things rapidly went downhill after Clinton, and there are some who believe that if he was around, Iraq may not have happened. Clinton was a smash hit in India as well, when he visited as a president, and that too, when his administration never gave as much respect to India as George W. Bush did.

Can't hide behind Zaheera

When all the accused in one of the horrific crimes of the 2002 Gujarat riots were let off , it looked like justice was dead. Marauding mobs had targeted people on religious grounds after the Godhra incident, with the administration doing nothing. The Best Bakery case was the most talked about, where the small establishment was surrounded and torched. Almost all members of the family inside perished, while the killers merrily danced outside.

The prime witness was a young girl called Zaheera Sheikh. She initially told the court what she saw, and then retracted. This led to the outrageous acquittal of all the accused and the resulting public outcry. Hope returned when the Supreme Court overruled the acquittal and ordered a retrial. Eventually, some were found guilty. The sad part was Zaheera, who was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to prison. The final verdict was celebrated widely as proof that justice was alive.

Buddha smiles again

It was a while since Indira Gandhi oversaw India's first nuclear test in 1974. Narasimha Rao tried to conduct the second round but the Americans learnt of it and had put pressure on Rao not to go ahead. There were talks about sanctions, and Rao let things be.

But when Vajpayee won the elections, Rao quietly passed on a chit to Vajpayee at the swearing-in ceremony. The piece of paper had the basic details of Pokhran II. On May 13, 1998, India conducted its second round of nuclear tests. It was a job so well hidden that the world's intelligence agencies had no clue. Top nuclear scientists travelled in disguise to Pokhran in Rajasthan, some as military men, and some as civilians.

The coded message was clear: Buddha smiles again. The three tests put the country at par with developed nations that boasted of nuclear technology. India announced it was placing a voluntary moratorium on further tests. Some weeks later, Pakistan conducted its 'me-too' tests, but the mood in India was too celebratory to bother.

Green signal for Nitish

Bihar, it appeared, was done, for Laloo Yadav fared badly. Soon, the State Assembly was dissolved following Governor Buta Singh's report on MLAs being bribed. The report was considered serious evidence of 'horse-trading', a term used for influencing MLAs to switch sides, and President's Rule was consequently imposed. Nothing improved as Singh gave the impression that he was a proxy of Laloo Yadav.

But the Supreme Court got into the act and ruled that the dissolution was unconstitutional. The Court blasted the Governor, criticised the union government for going along with Singh, and ribbed President Abdul Kalam for signing the decree in a hurry, during a visit to Moscow. The fresh elections ousted Laloo Yadav and put Nitish Kumar in place. No one complained. So far, Nitish has not done anything negative. Fingers crossed, however, for the future.

This deal's a steal

For long it was felt that the world's two most important democracies, India and the United States, were not exploring possible friendship fully. The detritus of past distrust between the two was affecting present ties as well. So when Manmohan Singh visited the United States of America in the summer of July 2005, he had to take something big for dear ol' Bush.

Only the Left parties had a clue in India that Manmohan was about to off er a nuclear deal to the United States. The Communists protested in India, and hours later, Manmohan and Bush signed the accord in Washington. India wanted nuclear energy from the United States, and agreed to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities in return. The world could inspect the civilian facilities at will, India offered. The United States administration thought this was the best way to bring India under the nuclear non-proliferation umbrella, given India's opposition to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

George W. Bush clinched the deal when he visited India in March 2006. India was happy that its energy crisis may be solved. The US was happy that it brought a recalcitrant India on board. Bush wanted Manmohan as an ally. He counts the nuclear deal as one of his rare foreign policy victories. Manmohan was keen on US help on many fronts. He lists the deal as his contribution to the 'growth of the country'.

There is domestic opposition to the deal in India and the US, but majority opinions appear to be holding in favour. It's the first time that an Indian government was confident enough on the nuclear issue to ignore pinpricks. Consequently, the Indo-US alliance could open up greatly.

One house, 1 job

Fury in the farms pushed the Vajpayee government out of power in the 2004 election. The UPA was expected to take note of the distress in India's rural belt.

After a yearand-a-half of debate, the Manmohan Singh government finally came up with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It ensured that one member of a rural family would get 100 days of employment a year, at a little more than the prevalent minimum wages. The idea is to stop migration to cities and offer some relief, so that farmers may not commit suicide.

Touted as the world's biggest social security scheme, the Act won kudos for the UPA; let's see how many jobs - and lives - it'll win.

Rise of neo-Left

There was a time when US foreign policy was driven by events in its backyard. For example, the US presidents, from Kennedy to Reagan, tried their best to stop communism spreading from Cuba. Today, the US is too preoccupied with Osama bin Laden, Iraq and Iran, to notice that the Left is gathering victories in Latin America - Hugo Chávez (top right) in Venezuela leading the pack. Tabare Vazquez won in Uruguay, Lula in Brazil, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Michele Bachelet in Chile, all Left -leaning. Though nascent, and oft en troubled, the trend offers an option in an increasingly unipolar US-dominated world. To that extent, and a lot more actually, the rise of the neo-Left is a reason for cheer.

Reds wanna be in the pink

When the Left talks profit, the issue is more or less, clinched. After decades of preaching dictatorship of the proletariat, the Indian mainstream Left is now comprehensively ready for market-friendly overtures.

The first topic that Marxist top gun Buddhadeb Bhattacharya picked after his party's huge victory in the 2006 West Bengal election was that he would now invite the private sector into his state.

The first to respond was the Bajaj group, which said it would manufacture its Rs.1 lakh car in West Bengal. This is the pink revolution, far from the days when the first instinct was to form a trade union. From here on, unless there's a backlash, mainstream Communist parties in India will be more like social democrats. Following Sitaram Yechury's Nepal foray, the Left has begun shaping foreign policy as well. The dove may have finally won over the hawk.

A 1,000 malls bloom

Whatever China does, it seems to do fanatically, whether the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square firing, or now the economic revolution. With the zeal of fresh convert, China has been setting standards that many want to emulate fast.

Setting past practices aside, the Chinese Communist party has opened up the country's economy at such a fast pace that the US is looking increasingly worried. The rise of China could be one of the enduring stories of this century, and it offers a big economic, political, and military counter to the US.

Indian markets are swamped by Chinese products, and Chinese diplomacy is proving a bother in India's neighbourhood. India, therefore, has more than one reason to look at China closely. However, the speed and size of China's growth is a story that needs to be applauded for just being there. There's some good news for India as well: In a meeting, a few days ago in Delhi, China set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by the year 2015. India agreed. It would seem that the waltz of the dragon is truly fascinating the world.