Events of 2015
Political
NITI Aayog: The Union Government of India announced formation of NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India Aayog) on 1 January 2015 to replace Planning Commission. NITI Aayog is a Government of India policy think-tank which has been formed to represent the economic interests of the State Governments and Union Territories of India, which the Planning Commission lacked.
Aam Aadmi Party Rules Delhi: In February polling for New Delhi state elections were held which saw Aam Aadmi Party wining with 67 seats out of 70.
Nitish, New CM of Bihar : The Legislative Assembly election was held over five-phases in Bihar through October–November 2015. This election saw highest voter turnout in Bihar assembly polls and the choice of the people was evident with RJD emerging as the single largest party with 80 seats.
Economic
Budget 2015: This time the budget included plans for schemes like Safe India with 100 crores into the Nirbhaya Fund, Skill India to increase the employ-ability of the youth especially in the rural areas and Green India where the Government is aiming at increasing the usage of renewable energy and to regulate and streamline the various sectors of infrastructure.
Give it Up Campaign: Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, urged the rich people to give up the LPG subsidy in this campaign.
Prime Minister’s Schemes: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 3 large-scale social security schemes, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, and Atal Pension Yojana which will be beneficial to the lower middle class and the population falling under BPL. The Prime Minister also launched the Digital India programme in May this year to allow transparency to the common man.
Major Decisions by the Government
OROP: Narendra Modi, the BJP prime Ministerial candidate, in order to win armed forces and veteran support has made implementation of OROP an election rallying call. On assuming office, he continued making promises but did not implement OROP which raised doubts and suspicion among ex-servicemen. A nationwide protest by veterans began on 15 June 2015. During the peaceful protests conducted by the veterans, they were man handled by the security forces under the order of Rajnath Singh, the Home Mi minster of India. The 83 days of public protests ended with the order to implement OROP on 7th November, 2015. However the OROP Scheme sanctioned by the government did not conform to the ‘accepted’ definition and thus the veterans continue to protest.
Gold Monetisation Scheme: Prime Minister has launched this scheme in November wherein individuals who deposit their gold in authorised banks will receive interest on the same.
Awards
Bharat Ratna: This year the most prestigious civilian award was bestowed upon the erstwhile Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the freedom fighter Late Madan Mohan Malaviya.
The Padma awards: This yearamong the 50 recepients of the award were actor Amitabh Bachchan, actor Dilip Kumar, nuclear scientist M.R. Srinivasan, mathematician Manjul Bhargava, computer scientist Vijay P. Bhatkar, Hindu spiritual guru Swami Satyamitranand and Aga Khan.
Returning Awards: Many famous and not so famous literary personalities and artists started returning their awards in protest of the murder of literary personalities including M.M. Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Narendra Dhabholkar who voiced their opinions against the superstitions in India. Later this protest in the form of returning awards also included the lynching of a man in Dadri on the assumption of eating beef.
The End of an Era
APJ Abdul Kalam Dies: India’s 11th President APJ Abdul Kalam died on 27th July at a hospital in Meghalaya, where he had gone to deliver a lecture at the age of 83. He was delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong when he collapsed and suffered cardiac arrest.
