New Delhi, May 26 (ANI): Vinai Kumar Saxena took oath as Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on May 26. He took oath as the 22nd Lieutenant Governor of the National Capital. > > >

Apple discontinues the iPod: A timeline of the iconic music playerApple discontinues the iPod: A timeline of the iconic music player

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Apple discontinues the iPods

the iPod: A timeline of the iconic music players

In Pictures: India at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in DavosIn Pictures: India at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos

Azim Premji

A policeman stands at a kiosk at the proposed site of the Jaitapur nuclear plant in Ratnagiri district, about 360 km south of Mumbai. Photo: Reuters

The meeting will bring together over 2,000 leaders&nbsp;The meeting will bring together over 2,000 leaders&nbsp;The meeting will bring together over 2,000 leaders&nbsp;

India at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos

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The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 convenes at the most consequential geopolitical and geo-economic moment of the past three decades and against the backdrop of a once-in-a-century pandemic. The meeting will bring together over 2,000 leaders and experts from around the world, all committed to a &ldquo;Davos Spirit&rdquo; of improving the state of the world.

Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos

Through their collective power, global businesses working in the First Movers Coalition are making technologies of tomorrow commercially viable today.

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022

The top 10 most liveable cities in the world: Check list in picturesThe top 10 most liveable cities in the world: Check list in pictures

economy

The top 10 most liveable cities in the world

liveable cities in the world: Check list in pictures

Global bankers may profit from New Delhi's dollar crunch hh

Ratan Tata

In pictures: Indian Railways' first movable freshwater tunnel aquariumvIn pictures: Indian Railways' first movable freshwater tunnel aquarium

Cricket

In pictures: Indian Railways' first movable freshwater tunnel aquarium

first movable freshwater tunnel aquarium

Here's a quick look at these five names and the likely significance of their meeting.

Azim Premji from Adobe

Ratan Tata from Tata

lakshmi-mittal from mittal industries

Coronavirus : India logs 18,930 new cases, 35 deaths in 24 hours

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most people infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. However, some will become seriously ill and require medical attention. Older people and those with underlying medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. Anyone can get sick with COVID-19 and become seriously ill or die at any age.&nbsp;

The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is to be well informed about the disease and how the virus spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by staying at least 1 metre apart from others, wearing a properly fitted mask, and washing your hands or using an alcohol-based rub frequently. Get vaccinated when it&rsquo;s your turn and follow local guidance.

Covid2

The virus can spread from an infected person&rsquo;s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, sing or breathe. These particles range from larger respiratory droplets to smaller aerosols. It is important to practice respiratory etiquette, for example by coughing into a flexed elbow, and to stay home and self-isolate until you recover if you feel unwell.

Covid3

I walked into a very charged energy in that room, said Chastain, who opened up on what happened after the incident.

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A supporter of the main opposition Congress party is detained by police during

It's the end of an era today as Apple decided to discontinue the iPod after two decades of revolutionising music

economy-newdd

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				It&amp;rsquo;s the end of an era today as Apple decided to discontinue the iPod after two decades of revolutionising music. Through its two-decade journey, the iPod came in various shapes and sizes starting with the pocket-sized iPod classic with a click wheel and the final iPod touch &amp;mdash; which Apple said will be on sale till supplies last.

Apple discontinues the iPod: A timeline of the iconic music player

The original iPod was the first MP3 player to pack a mind-blowing 1,000 songs and a 10-hour battery into a stunning 6.5-ounce package.

The Original Apple iPod | October 23, 2001

iPod mini brought everything users loved about iPod into a smaller design at just 3.6 ounces.

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iPod nano (2nd generation) offered a thin design, a bright colour display, six stylish colours, and up to 24 hours of battery life, and put up to 2,000 songs in users&amp;rsquo; pockets.

iPod Nano | September 25, 2006

iPod touch brought the revolutionary Multi-Touch interface that made iPhone a hit to iPod with a gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen display.

Apple iPod touch | September 5, 2007

iPod nano (7th generation) was the thinnest iPod to date at just 5.4mm and featured a 2.5-inch Multi-Touch display.

Thinnest iPod | September 12, 2012

iPod shuffle (4th generation) offered a sleek design with up to 15 hours of battery life, 2GB of storage good for hundreds of songs, and a VoiceOver button to hear a song title, playlist name, or battery status.

iPod shuffle | July 15, 2015

iPod touch (7th generation) features the A10 Fusion chip, enabling immersive augmented reality experiences and Group FaceTime, along with 256GB of storage.

Apple iPod touch | May 28, 2019

End of era for iPod, but the music lives on

End of era for iPod | May 10, 2022

Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) said that President Joe Biden's speech on the first anniversary of Capitol riot was a "political theater"

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On January 6, 2021, a group of Trump loyalists stormed the US Capitol building in Washington, clashing with police, damaging property, seizing the inauguration stage and occupying the rotunda.&nbsp; The unrest took place after Trump urged his supporters to protest what he claimed was a stolen presidential election.&nbsp;

What happened on Jan 6?

They sought to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election by disrupting the joint session of Congress, assembled to count electoral votes that would formalise then President-elect Joe Biden&#39;s victory.&nbsp; President Trump addressed supporters, urging them to go to the Capitol to demonstrate &quot;peacefully.&quot; But he also exhorted them to act: &quot;If you don&#39;t fight like hell, you&#39;re not going to have a country anymore,&quot; he said.

Why it happened?

Many people were injured, including 138 police officers. Four officers, who responded to the attack, committed suicide within seven months.

Many people were injured

On Thursday, Biden marked the first anniversary of the US Capitol riot, blaming Trump for the violence. Speaking at Congress, Biden held his predecessor responsible for the attack on the seat of American democracy. Biden accused Trump and his supporters for holding a dagger at the throat of democracy with lies that sparked last year&#39;s deadly assault, and used the anniversary of the attack as an occasion to warn Americans that the system of government in the country remains under threat. The President set the tone on a day of remembrance that was marked by fiery speeches, moments of silence and anguished accounts from lawmakers recalling the terrifying hours, when the mob laid siege to the Capitol and rioters tried to stop the routine, ceremonial certification of election results.

Biden marked the first anniversary of the US Capitol riot

Meanwhile, in a statement, Trump said Biden used his name during the speech to &quot;divide&quot; America. &quot;Biden, who is destroying our nation with insane policies of open borders, corrupt elections, disastrous energy policies, unconstitutional mandates, and devastating school closures, used my name today to try to further divide America,&quot; read the statement.

Trump said Biden used his name during the speech to

From deep digging in the heart of the capital to takeoff plans in its periphery - 2021 remained action-packed

Rupee falls 39 paise to fresh lifetime low of 82.69 against US dollar

Protesting the three controversial farm laws since the end of 2020 and demanding their withdrawal, farmers took out a massive tractor rally in Delhi on January 26, Republic Day. Breaking through police barricades, they climbed the ramparts of Red Fort and hoisted flags near the Tricolour. Amidst clashes, one farmer died and more than 80 policemen were injured.

FLAGS OF RESISTANCE

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				In the days that followed, protesting crowds waned from Delhi&amp;rsquo;s borders but the stir regained momentum after an emotional appeal from Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait. In November, the Centre repealed the farm laws.

TIKAIT&amp;#39;S EMOTIONAL APPEAL

On October 3, four farmers protesting the farm laws and a journalist were mowed down by an SUV allegedly carrying BJP workers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh. The main accused in the case is Ashish Mishra, the son of Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni. In the violence that followed the incident, some people were lynched and vehicles set ablaze.

FLAMES OF RAGE

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				&amp;ldquo;Khela hobe (the game is on)&amp;rdquo; became both a battle cry and a victory slogan in West Bengal as Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders as the state went to polls. Nursing an injured foot, she decimated her opponents to lead the government for the third time in a row. And though she lost her own seat, Nandigram, her party&amp;rsquo;s landslide win has cemented her place as a leading face of the opposition. By the end of the year, the TMC entered Goa and Tripura, as Banerjee made her national ambitions clear.

WHEELCHAIR STOPS JUGGERNAUT

After months of friction between him and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, Amarinder Singh resigned as the chief minister of Punjab. And the old warhorse was replaced by Charanjit Singh Channi. Sidhu, incidentally, was with the BJP when Amarinder became CM in 2017.

FACEOFF FALL OUT

The winter session of Parliament began with Rajya Sabha chairman suspending 12 MPs from five political parties for the rest of the session for &amp;ldquo;unruly conduct&amp;rdquo; on the last day of the monsoon session in August. Marshals were called after opposition members stormed the Well of the House. The suspended MPs sat in protest outside. TMC leader Derek O&amp;rsquo;Brien became the 13th MP to be suspended after he flung the House rulebook during a discussion on Election Laws (Amendment Bill) 2021, which was subsequently passed

ALL&amp;rsquo;S NOT WELL

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				Ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year, PM Modi inaugurated Phase One of the Rs 339 crore Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor in his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi, on December 13. The mega project involved the purchase and acquisition of more than 300 properties around the temple complex. It is expected to give a big boost to tourism in the ancient city.

MODI&amp;rsquo;S KASHI YATRA

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				Work on the Noida International Airport at Jewar officially got underway on November 25 with PM Modi attending the foundation stone laying ceremony. The airport is expected to be operational by September 2024 and, once completed, will be India&amp;rsquo;s largest.

The TAKE OFF

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				Thirteen civilians were shot dead by Assam Rifles personnel in Nagaland&amp;rsquo;s Mon district on the evening of December 5. In a case of &amp;ldquo;mistaken identity&amp;rdquo;, the personnel purportedly opened fire on the civilians, assuming them to be insurgents. As protests against the incident spread like wildfire, Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed regret over the killing. The incident triggered fresh demands for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives sweeping powers to security forces in the Northeastern state. In a mark of solidarity, Nagaland&amp;#39;s famous Hornbill Festival, held in December every year, was cancelled.

BOTCHED OPERATION

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				With less than a month to go for Republic Day, the heart of Delhi remains dug up with construction for the Central Vista project under way. Six infrastructure firms have submitted technical bids for building an executive enclave that will house the PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, India House and National Security Council Secretariat.

POWER CORRIDOR

Members of Congress, DMK and Shiv Sena protested in front of Mahatma Gandhi&amp;rsquo;s statue on Parliament premises as news of snooping through Israeli spyware Pegasus rocked the monsoon session. The Pegasus spyware, said the Israeli ambassador to India, can only be sold to governments. Opposition parties staged multiple walkouts from both Houses. The agitation escalated after the Centre showed no signs of acceding to the opposition&amp;rsquo;s demand for a discussion on the matter or to institute an independent judicial probe. The protests eventually led to a near-washout of the session.

SNOOPGATE

Bhupendrabhai Patel (Gujarat),&amp;nbsp; Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), Charanjit Singh Channi (Punjab) and Pushkar Singh Dhami (Uttarakhand)

THE NEW CM FACES

MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Nadesan Krishnasamy Rangasamy (Puducherry), Basavaraj Bommai (Karnataka) and Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala)

THE NEW CM FACES: SOUTH

Virat Kohli quit as India's Test captain, saying he did his job with "absolute honesty" and the time was right to quit the leadership role. Let's look at his achievements as India Test Captain

Kohli was appointed Test captain in 2014 when M S Dhoni stepped down in the middle of the series against Australia. Kohli scored 115 in India&#39;s first innings, becoming the fourth Indian to score a hundred on Test captaincy debut. Filling the shoes of MS Dhoni was not going to be easy, but Kohli took leadership by storm, and quickly, he cemented himself as one of the best thinkers the country has seen in Test cricket.

Kohli's first taste as skipper

In the Melbourne Boxing Day Test, he made his personal best Test score of 169 in the first innings while sharing a 262-run partnership with Rahane, India&#39;s biggest partnership outside Asia in ten years.

Personal best Test score of 169

Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket at the conclusion of this match, and Kohli was appointed as the full-time Test captain ahead of the fourth Test at Sydney.&nbsp; 

Kohli appointed full-time Test captain

Captaining the team for the second time, Kohli hit 147 in the first innings of the match and became the first batsman in Test cricket history to score three hundreds in his first three innings as Test captain. Kohli&#39;s total of 692 runs in four Tests was the most by any Indian batsman in a Test series in Australia.

Kohli leads India to a memorable series win in Australia

He is the third most successful captain in the history of Test cricket (who have led in at least 20 Tests) in terms of Test wins behind Steve Waugh (41 wins in 57 games) and Ricky Ponting (48 in 77 games). Kohli has 40 wins in 68 Tests in which he led India.

Kohli holds the record for most Test appearances as captain

The leadership also brought out the best in Kohli and it saw the batter registering seven double-centuries in the longest format of the game. It was under Kohli&#39;s leadership that India was crowned the number one Test team in the ICC Rankings for a continuous period of 42 months from October 2016 till early March 2020. Virat Kohli&#39;s biggest win in the longest format came during 2018-19 as India won its first Test series Down Under. Under his captaincy, India also reached the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC). 

Kohli holds the record for scoring most Test centuries as India captain

Kohli has the most Test wins at home for India as captain. India&#39;s victory against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium last year was Kohli&#39;s 24th Test win at home. In the four Tests that India played against England in England last year, Kohli&#39;s side went on to take a 2-1 lead and the last Test of the series will be played later this year. 

India almost unbeatable under Kohli in home conditions

Kohli&#39;s decision to leave Test captaincy comes a day after India lost the three-match Test series against South Africa on Friday. Kohli was dealing with one controversy after another as he was recently removed as ODI captain by the BCCI after he decided to step down as Twenty20 captain. His decision to quit as Test skipper has come at a time when his relationship with the BCCI is so strained that he preferred to announce his decision on social media. Last year, Kohli had stepped down as the T20I captain and then he was removed as the ODI leader as the selectors wanted one captain for the white-ball format. 

Kohli's last game as captain

With omicron presenting another challenge, the country is working to be better prepared this time around.

politics

Funeral pyres burned day and night, and riverbanks were dotted with bodies as the surge in deaths from the second wave of Covid-19 overwhelmed India. Cases topped 400,000 per day, then the world&rsquo;s highest single-day figure, and daily deaths surpassed 6,000. Patients were rushed from hospital to hospital; many died on the way or at home. There were reports of bodies found floating in the Ganges or buried by its banks. Oxygen trucks moved under armed guard to replenish supplies that were dangerously low. There were stories of grief and pain everywhere. With both their parents dead, hundreds of children were left orphaned.

GRIEF & LOSS

As Covid-19 cases exploded in April and May, hospitals across the country ran short of medical oxygen. Deaths mounted and several people with severe symptoms were unable to get a hospital bed or ventilator support. The fight for basic health care reached the courts, which directed the Centre to urgently address the shortages.

CRY FOR OXYGEN

#OxygenSoS trended on social media and the queues of people with empty oxygen cylinders outside plants and NGOs grew. As the situation worsened, the Railways ferried Oxygen Express trains, and nearly 50 nations pitched in to help India.

CALL FOR HELP

When the second wave was nearing its peak, India faced another battle. Cases of mucormycosis or black fungus &mdash; a potentially serious condition that causes blurred vision, chest pain and breathing difficulties &mdash; surged, mostly among Covid-19 patients. The health ministry directed pharmaceutical companies to jack up the production of antifungal drug amphotericin B. Hospitals struggled to procure potentially critical drugs such as remedesivir and favipravir amidst reports of their black marketing.

FIGHTING THE FUNGUS

As states declared curfews and lockdowns in April to arrest the spread of the second wave of Covid-19, hordes of migrant workers from cities fled to their homes in rural India, a dreadful repeat of the mass exodus of 2020. Due to state-level restrictions, India&rsquo;s economic activity, which had been showing signs of recovery, slowed again.

DEJA VU

On January 16, India rolled out its Covid-19 vaccination drive, with priority given to frontline workers. On March 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the first jab of Covaxin to boost public trust in the indigenously made vaccine. Two months later, the country started vaccinating those over the age of 45 as Covid cases started to rise again. Vaccination for children above 15 and booster shots for the elderly will begin early 2022. 

SHOT OF HOPE

Nearly 90% of the vaccines administered in India have come from Adar Poonawalla-led Serum Institute of India, which produces licensed version of the AstraZeneca drug &mdash; Covishield. This is followed by Covaxin, developed by Krishna Ella&rsquo;s Bharat Biotech and backed by the Indian Council of Medical Research. Russia&rsquo;s Sputnik V, too, has a minor contribution.&nbsp; 

VAX LEADERS

On October 21, India celebrated the milestone of administering 1 billion doses of homegrown Covaxin and Covishield vaccines.

LIGHTENING-FAST VACCINATION

But getting there hadn&rsquo;t been easy. When the campaign picked up after a slow start, the country faced a major internal shortage, triggering questions over the Centre&rsquo;s decision to export the vaccines. To meet domestic needs, exports were temporarily suspended and were resumed recently with the vaccination situation under control.

VACCINE SHORTAGE

As the second wave of the pandemic receded, most states reopened schools and educational institutes, with restrictions. According to the School Children&rsquo;s Online and Offline Learning survey conducted in August, 75% of parents felt their child&rsquo;s reading ability had declined massively with schools being closed for a year-and-a-half.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Days before December 15, when international commercial passenger flights were scheduled to resume, India extended the ban till January 31, 2022, after the Omicron variant of Covid-19 raised fresh concerns. Domestic airlines were, however, running full flights, and airports were teeming with passengers off to holiday destinations. States have now started imposing curbs to limit the spread of Omicron. 

TRAVEL TURBULENCE

With lessons from the second wave, hospitals are adding beds and working to ensure adequate oxygen supplies to meet any challenge that Omicron may pose. The Centre has asked the states to strengthen health systems, accelerate vaccination, and maintain a buffer stock of essential medicines.

IN PREPARATION MODE

High achievers in the corporate world; a media potboiler we could do without; and heartfelt goodbyes. 2021 had it all, but a year of renewal and hope was summed up best by olympic glory for the ages

India produced its best-ever performance at the Olympics, with a haul of seven medals at the Tokyo 2020 edition in the middle of the year, with bronze winner Lovlina Borgohain becoming only the third boxer and second woman to finish on the podium; javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra creating history with a stunning gold to end a century-old drought in track and field for India; Mirabai Chanu winning a silver in weightlifting; wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya picking up a bronze and silver in separate categories; and ace shuttler P V Sindhu becoming the first woman and second Indian to win two Olympic medals at an individual event.

CHAMPIONS' LEAGUE

If ever there was a Chak De! India moment for Indian hockey after years of disappointment, this was it. The giant-killing women&rsquo;s team lost by the narrowest margin to Great Britain in the semis to miss out on a medal, while the men&rsquo;s team closed out an epic contest against Germany to win a bronze. Also inspiring was golfer Aditi Ashok, who beat all odds to finish fourth.

WINNING HEARTS

Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested in October in a Mumbai cruise drugs case. Although no drugs were found on him, the actor&rsquo;s son languished behind bars for weeks. A media circus ensued, Khan was granted bail by the Bombay High Court, and the investigating officer of the Narcotics Control Bureau was removed from the probe.

STAR-CROSSED

It was another year when Indians came to head global companies. In December, French luxury fashion house Chanel appointed India-born Leena Nair as its CEO. A fashion outsider, Nair had joined Unilever 30 years ago, where she rose through the ranks to become the youngest chief. human resources officer. In November, 37-year-old Parag Agrawal became the CEO of Twitter after founder Jack Dorsey stepped down from the post. The IIT-Bombay graduate had joined the tech giant in 2011, while he was still a PhD scholar at Stanford University.

TOP GUNS

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani joined the world&rsquo;s most exclusive $100-billion club after his net worth soared to $100.6 billion in October, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. This placed him in the rarefied group of 11 men led by SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk, who&rsquo;s the world&rsquo;s richest with a net worth of $222.1 billion, followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (net worth $190.8 billion). The 64-year-old Ambani, who inherited the company from his father in 2005, has transformed the business into a retail, telecom and ecommerce behemoth. In June, he unveiled Reliance Industries&rsquo; plan for a clean and green energy business, by investing Rs 75,000 crore over the next three years.

CHA-CHING!

Another Indian business tycoon on whom Kuber, the god of wealth, smiled was Gautam Adani. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires index, the 59-year-old&rsquo;s net worth stood at $89.1 billion in November. The Adani Group chairman had added a colossal $44.3 billion to his wealth since the start of 2021, largely as a result of good stock market performance through the year. Adani is one of the early entrants into the green energy space and has said he plans to invest $70 billion in the next 10 years across renewable energy generation, component manufacturing, transmission, and distribution.

RICHER & RICHER

As the year drew to a close, the death of India&rsquo;s first Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, in a helicopter crash in the Nilgiris stunned the nation. His wife and 11 others were also killed in the crash. The lone survivor, Group Captain Varun Singh, succumbed a week later. Earlier in July, screen legend Dilip Kumar passed away at the age of 98. The thespian who inspired generations of actors was the last link to the Golden Era of Indian cinema. This was also the year when another legend, track and field sprinter Milkha Singh &mdash; The Flying Sikh &mdash; died of Covid-19 complications at the age of 91.

FAREWELL

Some of the world&rsquo;s leading companies saw new faces in the corner office. Walt Disney, the 98-year-old entertainment company, got its first woman chair in Susan Arnold. She had been lead independent director at the company since 2018 and served on its board since 2007. Arnold will succeed Bob Iger, who is known to have made some of the most iconic acquisitions for the company. Arnold was operating executive at the Carlyle group for the last eight years, before which she worked at the consumer goods giant Procter and Gamble. And in July, Andy Jassy succeeded Jeff Bezos as CEO of Amazon. The move came amid growing chatter around the former CEO&rsquo;s increasing wealth. Jassy, who started working at the tech giant in 1997 after graduating from Harvard Business School, had been leading Amazon Web Services since its inception in 2003.&nbsp;

LEADER BOARD

After a gap of 21 years, the Miss Universe crown returned to India with Harnaaz Sandhu becoming the third Indian to win the title. The first was Sushmita Sen, who won the pageant in 1994, followed by Lara Dutta in 2000 &mdash; incidentally, the year Sandhu was born. The postgraduate student of public administration is also a film star and has acted in a few Punjabi movies.

CROWNING GLORY

After a year of disruptions, businesses were better prepared in 2021, not only adjusting to the new normal but also making the most of it

With a Rs 18,000-crore bid, the Tatas were back in the Air India cockpit this October, 68 years after the airline they founded in 1932 was nationalised. The deal marked the end of years of struggle to privatise the heavily indebted state carrier. This was also the first privatisation in India in almost two decades. The Jawaharlal Nehru government had in 1953 paid Rs 2.8 crore for the carrier &amp;mdash; the country&amp;rsquo;s first commercial airline.

ROUND TRIP

India&amp;rsquo;s Covid-battered aviation industry will have two more airlines next year, with stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala&amp;rsquo;s Akasa Air getting a no-objection certificate from the civil aviation ministry in October andJet Airways&amp;rsquo; revival plan in place. The industry, where budget airline IndiGo has over half the market share, faced the threat of consolidation amid Covid. These fears have now been put to rest and aviation experts see fares going down next year. &amp;nbsp;

OPEN SKIES

The Competition Commission of India in December suspended its nod to Amazon&amp;rsquo;s 2019 deal with Future Group, dealing a blow to the US e-commerce giant&amp;rsquo;s efforts to block Future&amp;rsquo;s $3.4-billion asset sale agreement with Reliance. The Jeff Bezos-led firm is engaged in a bitter fight with Mukesh Ambani&amp;rsquo;s Reliance Industries to dominate the country&amp;rsquo;s $1-trillion retail market. Caught in the mix is Kishore Biyani, whose Future Retail sold 49% in an unlisted firm to Amazon, a deal the e-tailer said Future was breaching terms of by signing a different agreement with Reliance.

AMAZON&amp;rsquo;S FUTURE PLAN HALTED

In August, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation allowed commercial operation of Boeing 737 MAX, two years after the aircraft was banned after 346 people died in two deadly crashes &amp;mdash; in Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia in 2019. SpiceJet, the only operator of the 737 MAX in the country, marked the aircraft&amp;rsquo;s return with a special flight from New Delhi to Gwalior on November 23.

FLIGHT PATH

A bitter years-long legal battle between Tata Sons and Cyrus Mistry ended in March when the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Tata Group. The court said the 2016 ouster of Mistry as chairman was legal, rejecting the &amp;ldquo;mismanagement&amp;rdquo; allegations of the former executive whose family is the single-largest shareholder in the nation&amp;rsquo;s biggest conglomerate with an 18% stake. The court also upheld Tata Group&amp;rsquo;s rules on minority shareholder rights, making it difficult for investors to sell shares. Mistry had taken over as chairman ofTata Sons in 2012 from group patriarch Ratan Tata.

MESSY DIVORCE

The board of Zee agreed to a merger with Sony Group Corp&amp;rsquo;s local unit in December amid a boardroom dispute between the founders of India&amp;rsquo;s largest publicly traded TV network and its largest shareholder, Invesco. US-based Invesco had called for the removal of Punit Goenka as CEO, alleging corporate governance concerns. Similar shareholder activism was seen in Dish TV, Eicher Motors and Balaji Telefilms.

BLOCKBUSTER DEAL

When Ford Motor announced in September that it was exiting India, it joined American automakers General Motors and Harley-Davidson in ceasing production in the country. Ford entered India in 1995 with much fanfare, hoping to grab a pie of the world&amp;rsquo;s fifth largest auto market. It accumulated losses of over $2 billion in 10 years and managed to secure only 2% of the market share.

DRIVING OUT

Bharti Airtel increased the tariffs of its prepaid plans by up to 25 per cent in November. The two other private telcos &amp;mdash; Vi and Reliance Jio &amp;mdash; followed suit, marking the end of the low tariff regime in the sector. This came months after the government approved a telecom package, which included measures such as a four-year moratorium on spectrum-related payments.

PRICE BLITZ

The government in November barred SpaceX&amp;rsquo;s Starlink from accepting pre-orders for its upcoming satellite broadband services, dealing a blow to Elon Musk&amp;rsquo;s ambitions to dominate satellite broadband in the country. The news came a month after its rival, Sunil Mittal-backed OneWeb, signed an arrangement with the commercial arm of Isro to launch its satellite in India. It plans to start services in the country in the second half of 2022.

SPACE WARS

A semiconductor chip shortage that began afflicting the world last year showed no signs of easing in 2021. From delayed car deliveries and weak supply of home appliances to costlier phones, customers and businesses continued to face problems. Apple slashed production of iPhone 13 by 10 million units, down from a target of 90 million.

WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN

It was a golden year for start-ups, with 42 of them turning Unicorns (achieving $1-bn valuation) at record pace. For perspective, India is now home to 79 Unicorns, and the first one &amp;mdash; inMobi &amp;mdash; got the tag back in 2011. In June, Byju&amp;rsquo;s became India&amp;rsquo;s most valued start-up. Founded by Byju Raveendran, it is also the world&amp;rsquo;s most valued edtech start-up. The firm is said to be in talks to go public in the US next year at $48-bn valuation.

GIANT LEAP

The government in August decided to scrap a controversial 2012 law that taxed companies retrospectively for the indirect transfer of Indian assets. With this, the government moved to settle international disputes running into billions of dollars, indicating to global investors that India can course-correct. Cairn Energy and Vodafone are among the companies that will get refunds.

RETRO REVERSAL

A year when several parts of the world bore the brunt of extreme weather conditions

The UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) brought together 120 world leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the occasion to announce 2070 as India&rsquo;s target to reach net-zero carbon emissions, two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India also committed to use renewable energy to meet 50% of its energy needs and reduce carbon emission by 1 billion tonnes by 2030. The talks ended with a deal to address the climate crisis but only after a last-minute intervention by India &mdash; backed by China and other coal-reliant nations &mdash; calling on parties to accelerate efforts to &ldquo;phase down&rdquo; rather than &ldquo;phase out&rdquo; coal power, the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. The intervention caused an uproar among developed countries, which expressed their &lsquo;deep disappointment&rsquo;, but experts said India&rsquo;s per capita carbon dioxide emissions are already well below the world average.

TICKING CLIMATE CLOCK

On February 7, a portion of the Nanda Devi glacier in Uttarakhand&rsquo;s Chamoli district broke off, sweeping away bridges, destroying dams and power plants, and leaving over 200 people dead or missing. The incident &mdash; reminiscent of the 2013 Kedarnath flash floods and subsequent landslides that killed thousands of people and washed away settlements &mdash; raised questions about the government&rsquo;s decision to build a dam so close to the glacier given the fragility of the area.

FLASHBACK 2013

Images of Tuvalu&rsquo;s Foreign Minister Simon Kofe recording a speech for the United Nations COP26 climate summit &mdash; standing in a suit and tie at a lectern set up in the sea, trouser legs rolled up &mdash; went viral on social media, drawing attention to the Pacific island nation&rsquo;s struggle for survival with sea levels rising. Tuvalu is considering legal options to maintain ownership of its maritime zones and recognition as a state even if it is completely submerged due to climate change.

DEEP MESSAGE

In November, Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India opened its first government-approved end-of-life vehicle scrapping and recycling unit in Noida, three months after the country announced a policy to phase out unfit and polluting vehicles in an environmentally friendly manner. The phaseout of older vehicles is expected to reduce air pollution by at least 25%. The year also saw India bring in an additional &lsquo;green&rsquo; tax on car sales to help fight high levels of air pollution.

OLD ONES OUT

India&rsquo;s electric vehicle (EV) sector had a dream run in 2021, led by Ola Electric&rsquo;s long-awaited but record-breaking scooter launch. EV registrations more than doubled in 2021, in line with the government&rsquo;s goal to have at least 30% of all new vehicle sales coming from EVs by 2030. While Jio-bp, the fuels and mobility joint venture between Reliance Industries and bp, announced it will set up a network of EV charging stations and battery-swap stations, Tesla Power is planning to install 5,000 two-wheeler EV charging points across India ahead of the carmaker&rsquo;s &lsquo;imminent&rsquo; entry in the market.

EV IN TOP GEAR

On May 17, Tauktae, the most powerful cyclone in more than two decades, battered India&rsquo;s west coast, sinking an ONGC oilfield barge and killing over 80 people onboard in one of the world&rsquo;s worst offshore oilfield disasters in recent memory. An Indian Navy warship rescued hundreds of people from two other ONGC barges. Experts caution that the rising sea surface temperature would intensify cyclones, particularly in the Arabian Sea.

BOMBAY HIGH TRAGEDY

Between June and July, hundreds died as a result of a heatwave in the US and the Canadian Pacific Northwest as temperatures soared to 49.6&deg;C. Globally, temperatures have risen by about 1.2&deg;C compared to a 100 years ago. The Indian weather department has said the rise has been about 0.6&deg;C, with more in the northern, central, and eastern parts, and less over peninsular India.

THE HEAT IS ON

Nearly 50 people were killed and several houses washed away as rains led to flash floods and landslides in many parts of Kerala in October. The situation, which brought back memories of the 2018 floods, led to criticism, with experts calling it an &ldquo;invited disaster&rdquo; as governments continued with rock quarrying, construction of buildings, and destruction of forest in the highly economic zones despite warnings.

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