The Hindu Business Line : Thank you, 2003!

NORMALLY, on December 31, the excitement is all about the New Year. The only thought for the year that has been with us for the previous 12 months is usually a la Lord Tennyson in his famous poem, Ring out, Wild Bells: "The year is dying in the night, and let him die...The year is going, let him go!" However, let us spare a kind thought for 2003, for it has been kind to us. It has been free of traumatic shocks, whether of the natural or man-made variety, other than some railway accidents here and there. These too — although loss of lives on any account is indisputably tragic — will have to be understood in the perspective of perhaps the largest railway system in the world.

The deplorable instances of intolerance shown towards the media by misguided misanthropes should also be taken as aberrations, rather than as part of a deep-rooted malaise. There was nothing to fear so long as the judiciary was there as an unfailing bulwark against excesses of any kind.

The year witnessed an impressive display of the country's democratic credentials, pushing its stock, which was already high in the wake of what was widely hailed as the first ever free and fair election to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, still higher.

The heart of every Indian must have swollen with pride not only at the smooth and peaceful conduct of the poll in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan, a landmass of the size of France and Germany combined and with a population half that of Europe, but at the political savvy of the largely rural electorate which coolly got rid of unwanted governments as if they were changing pillow covers.

On the political and parliamentary fronts, the year could boast some notable landmark events. All honour to the Government and political parties that they, of their own volition, got enactments passed to stiffen of the penalties against political defections, and to cut down of the size of Ministries, thereby making airbus cabinets nightmares of the past.

The year saw a memorable triumph of civil society in forcing candidates to attach to their nomination papers affidavits containing their criminal antecedents, inventories of moveable and immoveable assets in their names and those of family members, and their educational qualifications.

For the first time, something happened that would have been unimaginable barely a few years ago: The forex reserves surged past $100 billion. Sensex celebrated it by soaring to 5505. The GDP is expected to touch 8 per cent. Not only have the vital parameters concerning the health of the body politic got stronger during 2003, but the country is poised to become the third largest economy after China and the US.

Thank you, 2003!

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