2005 TERRA INFIRMA

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An earthquake measuring 7.6 struck the Indo-Pak border on October 8 killing 80,000 people and leaving millions homeless, with the worst of the Himalayan winters ahead. The quake, which had its epicenter at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, sheared off entire hillsides, snapping the region’s already perilous communication link with the rest of the Valley. Such was the damage that when Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh visited the affected areas, he called upon the “resilience of the nation” to tide over it. Bitter rivalry between the two nations did not deter the people of India and Pakistan from helping their brethren across the loc.

First cut

• stitching up the ties, the first Indo-Pak bus service across the LoC was started on April 7 between Srinagar and Muzzaffarpur.
• The era of Lalu Prasad Yadav came to an end in Bihar as he was ousted by Nitish Kumar. It was corruption, lawlessness and lack of development that brought an end to his 15-years rule as chief minister.

DARK DIWALI

diwali in Delhi saw the macabre victory of evil over good as three bombs went off on October 29 in Sarojini Nagar, Paharganj and on a bus near Govindpuri, killing 63 people and injuring 200. The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba was a prime suspect in the attack.

“I HAVE BEEN GIVEN NO CHANCE TO EXPLAIN.”

Natwar Singh

The expose on former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh’s involvement in helping his son Jagat get contracts under the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq published in india today led to his resignation from the Cabinet, and the Congress. His role had first been mentioned in the Volcker Report which revealed those who had made illegal payments to the Saddam Hussein regime. While Singh continues to protest his innocence, the india today revelations showed otherwise.

PARTING WAYS

“There are ownership is sues”. With the remark to a tv channel, Mukesh Ambani, elder son of the founder of Reliance Industries, Dhirubhai Ambani, confirmed talk about the Rs 90,000-crore Reliance Empire being headed for a split. With matriarch Kokilaben as referee, the group was divided between Mukesh and brother Anil, but not before dirty linen was washed in public.

MASTERLY KNOCK

Master Blaster, The Little Master; the accolades and titles that came Sachin Tendulkar’s way were well deserved. No other contemporary batsman has electrified the cricket stadium like the Indian superstar. The statistics speak for themselves. In December 2005, he set the record for the highest number of Test centuries (35), overtaking compatriot Sunil Gavaskar and West Indian rival Brian Lara. He currently has 37 test centuries to his name. He also holds the record for most one-day centuries (41) and was the first batsman in the world to go past 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, in March 2001, against world champions Australia.

ELSEWHERE…

• January 30 saw the first ‘free’ Parliamentary elections in Iraq since 1958.
• Suspected master minds behind Air India’s Flight 182 Kanishka bombing, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted of all charges on March 16.
• Four explosion rocked London on July 7, injuring 700 and killing 56. Three of the bombs were placed in the underground train network, while a fourth exploded on a bus.
• Three explosions in Bali on October 1 killed 26 people and injured more than 100.

$10 billion (Rs 400 crore) was the foreign institutional investment inflows compared to 8.51 billion Rs 345 crore) in 2004. In the same year, the Sensex also hit a record high of 9,394.27.

Courtesy By India Today