India in 2011

As 2011 hobbles its way to the exit door, the big picture emerging from this year in India was that it was 2010 redux. If corruption scandals dominated the political landscape last year, it was a virtual action replay.

Corruption, inflation – flavor of the year

Dominating the country's discourse again were corruption scandals and more scams clearly demonstrating that Prime Minister Singh's second term in office was short of authority and direction. For the bulk of the year, focus was on what has come to be called the "2G scam" - the controversial allotment of scarce airwaves to new players which ended up costing the exchequer up to 39 US billion dollars.

If that was not enough, food inflation, falling industrial production and creaking infrastructure put renewed pressure on Singh's government to restore India's impetus.

Nirmala Devi, 36, a migrant construction worker who moved into the capital from the impoverished state of Bihar for a better livelihood, summed it up well.

"A year back, I barely earned 4,000 rupees (80 US dollars) every month. Vegetables and bare essentials were expensive. Though I have a got small hike in my wages this year, it is as bad, if not worse. Life is expensive for me but easy for the rich," Devi rued.

The noisy fractious state of affairs galvanized into a vibrant anti-corruption movement spearheaded by a veteran Gandhian, Anna Hazare, to demand a strong Lokpal – or anti-corruption agency. His pitch mobilized thousands of middle-class Indians who stood by him steadfastly.

Launching three-hunger strikes across the country, Hazare became the face of India's war on corruption and forced a jittery government to finally take steps to unveil an independent body with powers to investigate and prosecute corrupt officials.

"Corruption has become endemic. Now, we need mass movements to force the government's hand. The boost from the anti-corruption movement of Hazare has now put politicians on alert," said Rahul Kumar, a government official, who threw caution to the winds to participate in the mass movement.

Political paralysis

The overarching sentiment of corruption that gripped the national consciousness for much of the year had several spin-offs, the most important one being that it slowed economic growth.

Foreign investors started to lose their early enthusiasm for India because of political paralysis and corruption scandals. Industrialists complained of poor growth and ministers shied away from policy decisions, worried about graft accusations.

The imbroglio over the hastily-made decision on Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail and the depreciating rupee added more worries shortly thereafter.

"It is virtually impossible to make bold and tough much needed reform in the country's political system because of the region's coalition politics," pointed out Deepak Lalwani, Director of Lalcap Ltd, a London-based consultancy specializing in doing business with India.

A shaky future

On the diplomatic front, re-engaging Pakistan found traction this year and might see the troubled post-November 2008 ties turning a corner, with leaders of both countries deciding to write a new chapter in bilateral relations. But despite the thaw, more work is needed on this front to hammer out solutions to several contentious issues that dog relations.

"This will be a year which Manmohan Singh and his cabinet ministers would like to forget in a hurry. Both on the domestic and international fronts, there have been no real tangibles," said Harmeet Singh, a professor in political science of Amritsar's Guru Nanak Dev University.

With crucial provincial elections slated in four states early next year, a course correction is in dire need. But from the look of things, next year brings no certainty that there will be any improvement.

Author: Murali Krishnan
Editor: Sarah Berning