Year Ender 2022: From Covid-19 to FIFA World Cup 2022 and Queen Elizabeth's death to assembly elections in India, the year 2022 marked the news calender with many significant events. The year started with the third wave of coronavirus gripping the country while the focus quickly transitioned to conflict between Russia and Ukraine the next month.
Assembly elections in five Indian states meant a stronger hold for the Bharatiya Janata Party which won in four of the five states and in Gujarat in the second half of the year and a political crisis unfolded in Maharashtra and Bihar.
Neighbouring countries, Pakistan underwent a political crisis and Sri Lanka reeled under political as well as economic crisis. While Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted by a no-confidence motion, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to resign after huge anti-government protests.
Queen Elizabeth, the longest-serving monarch of Britain passed away this year while former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was assassinated during a poll campaign.
Morbi Bridge tragedy which took lives of 135 people and the cold-blooded murder of Shraddha Walkar shook the entire country. Here's a roundup of the events that marked each month of the year 2022.
January: Covid 3rd Wave
The year 2022 rather started on a rough patch with the third wave of coronavirus resulting in breakthrough infections across the country. As per the estimates, the maximum infections from the dominant Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the third wave were reported in the month of January. The third wave of coronavirus remained between January 2022 to March 2022 in the country.
February: Russia Invades Ukraine
While the first month of the year was dominated by the Covid-scare, the world suddenly transitioned to another one with Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 in what Vladimir Putin called a "special military operation". Several Indian students were left stranded in the country who managed to reach Poland and Hungary's borders from where they were evacuated and brought back to the country.
The invasion has been followed by missile strikes from both sides and sanctions by the West and counter-sanctions by Russia.
Both sides have suffered huge losses since the war started. As per a report by Al Jazeera, Russia has suffered with its economy reducing in the third quarter of this year by 7.1 per cent compared with before sanctions in the fourth quarter of last year. While Ukraine revealed its estimates of military deaths at 10,000 to 13,000 earlier this month since the start of the war and the United Nations estimated 17,000 civilian deaths.
March: Assembly Elections
The month of March was marked by Assembly polls in five states including the important state of Uttar Pradesh along with Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur. While the Bhartiya Janata Party clinched Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur, the debutant Aam Aadmi Party swept Punjab polls.
April: Imran Khan Ousted
Political turmoil in Pakistan marked the month of May when Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf chief and former cricketer Imran Khan was ousted from the post of Prime Minister. On March 28, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chief and present Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tabled a no-confidence motion against Khan backed by other Opposition parties. In voting that was followed by high-voltage political drama, Khan was ousted with 174 members voting in favour of the no-confidence motion.
May: Gyanvapi Mosque Dispute
After a petition was filed in the Varanasi Court by five Hindu petitioners in August 2021 seeking permission to worship deities in the Gyanvapi mosque complex, a video survey of the complex was conducted on May 6. The survey was halted after Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee alleged advocate Ajai Mishra of biasedness, but the Court refused to remove him and the survey was resumed.
Based on the survey, the Hindu side claimed to have found a 'shivling' inside the mosque, which the Muslim side said to be a fountain.
Economic And Political Crisis In Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa Resgins
Another neighbouring country that underwent an acute economic and political crisis was Sri Lanka which was reeling under a huge foreign exchange deficit in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The crisis started with Mahinda Rajapaksa declaring a temporary state of emergency on April 1 and escalated with anti-government protestors storming his residence in Colombo forcing him to flee the country.
On May 9, Rajapaksa resigned and was replaced by Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The political crisis started which started in April and stretched till July till the election of a new President.
June: Maharashtra Political Crisis
The Maha Vikaas Aghadi government alliance led by Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray, along with Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, went into trouble after Eknath Shinde and 37 MLAs declared Shinde the leader of the Shiv Sena legislature party on June 23. What ensued was the 'resort politics' when Shinde along with his supporters moved to Assam where they were joined by many more MLAs of the Thackeray faction eventually leading to the dissolution of the MVA government.
The Shiv Sena was divided among two factions with Uddhav Thackeray's faction naming the party Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Shinde faction named 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena'.
July: Shinzo Abe Assassinated
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead on the morning of July 8 while he was campaigning in the western Japanese city of Nara. Abe was the longest-serving Prime Minister of Japan who stepped down from the post in 2020 citing health reasons.
A 41-year-old man, Tetsuya Yamagami was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for shooting at Abe.
The former Japanese premier was conferred with India's second highest civilian honour — Padma Vibhushan — for his exceptional and distinguished service in public affairs
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Anthony Albanese along with other leaders attended his State funeral in Tokyo on September 27.
August: Nancy Pelosi Visits Taiwan
The US-China conflict and China's assertion on Taiwan took a new turn in August this year after US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi visited the island nation which Beijing claims to be their own. Pelosi's visit, a first by the highest-ranking elected US official in more than 25 years, was viewed as an offence by China as she is being seen as third in line for the presidency in the US after Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Despite several hostile threats by China before Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the US House Speaker landed in Taipei on the night of August 2.
Nitish Kumar Joins Mahagathbandhan
After a two-year of the ruling alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, Janata Dal-United Chief Nitish Kumar broke ranks with the party after suspicion of an 'MVA-like game' in the state and joined hands with the 'Mahagathbandhan' alliance comprising Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and Left parties.
With this Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the 8th time.
September: Queen Elizabeth II Dies
The longest-reigning monarch of Britain and the nation's figurehead for seven decades, Queen Elizabeth passed away on September 8 at the age of 96. She was laid to rest on September 19, after 10 days of official mourning and her coffin had been in view to the public in Westminster Hall since September 14.
President Droupadi Murmu and Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra formed the official Indian delegation at the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
October: Morbi Bridge Collapse
135 people including women and children were killed after a British-era suspension foot-bridge over the Machchu river snapped in Gujarat's Morbi city on October 30. Personnel from the Indian Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the NDRF, the SDRF, the local fire department as well as the police department launched search and rescue operations which went on for five days.
Nine persons were arrested in connection with the tragic incident.
Elon Musk Takes Over Twitter
The Twitter-Elon Musk feud came to an end on October 28 with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO taking charge of the microblogging site and firing the social media company’s four top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal and legal executive Vijaya Gadde.
In April, Twitter accepted the billionaire Tesla CEO's proposal to buy the social media service and take it private. However, in May, Musk pulled out of the deal accusing Twitter of failing to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts.
G20 Bali Summit
Leaders of several nations shared the world stage during the 2022 G20 Summit in Indonesia's Bali province including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak among others.
The Bali G20 Summit 2022 was important as Joe Biden and Xi Jinping shared the stage after a series of war of words on several issues including Hong Kong, Covid-19, and Taiwan.
The Summit was also important as the G20 Presidency was passed to India which will be hosting the Summit next year in September in New Delhi.
November: Shraddha Walkar Murder Case
The country was shaken as a grisly murder case came to light in November this year. Aftab Amin Poonawala, who was in a live-in relationship and lived with his partner Shraddha Walkar in Delhi's Chhatarpur area, strangled and killed her in the flat. He later dismembered the corpse into 35 pieces and stacked them in a refrigerator, especially bought for the purpose, and disposed them in various parts of the city at midnight.
He was arrested by the Delhi Police and underwent a polygraph test and narco analysis and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
December: Messi Lifts Fifa World Cup 2022
The year rather ended with a high zeal and sporty spirit with the FIFA World Cup 2022 hosted by Qatar. Lionel Messi-led Argentina beat two-time world champions France 4-2 on penalties in a high-octane FIFA World Cup 2022 finals. While France trailed, France forward, Kylian Mbappe was highly praised for his performance.