2010: Year of scams!

Following is the diary of events during the year.

Jan 6: New Delhi: High-profile Samajwadi Party spokesperson Amar Singh resigns as its General Secretary and other posts following deepening differences with party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav,saying his priority now was his health,wife and children.

Jan 7: Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren,heading a JMM-BJP coalition government,wins a trust motion in the assembly by 19 votes.

Jan 9: Mumbai: Following his mentor Amar Singh,Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt tonight resigned as the General Secretarty of Samajwadi Party claiming he was hurt by the treatment meted out to his “elder brother” by certain leaders of the party.

Jan 12: New Delhi: In a landmark verdict against the Supreme Court,the Delhi High Court holds that the office of the Chief Justice of India comes within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) law,saying judicial independence is not a judge’s privilege but a responsibility cast upon him.

Jan 16: New Delhi: National Security Adviser M K

Narayanan has been appointed Governor of West Bengal and former Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil will head the Raj Bhawan in Punjab as the President has cleared a list of five new Governors in various states.

Jan 17: Kolkata: Marxist patriarch and former West

Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu,dies in a hospital after

battling in hospital.

Jan 21: New Delhi: High profile former Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon is named as the new National Security Adviser (NSA) to succeed M K Narayanan.

Jan 27: New Delhi: Samajwadi Party appoints Mohan Singh as its General Secretary and Spokesman in place of Amar Singh and he lost no time in demanding the resignation of the dissenting leader from Rajya Sabha on moral grounds.

Jan 29: Bhanu (Panchkula): Armed with INSAS rifles,209 women personnel join the ranks of the ITBP to guard the Sino-Indian frontier,which Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram termed as “one of the most difficult and challenging borders”.

Feb 8: Chandigarh: Former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore,convicted in the Ruchika molestation case,is attacked when a student of the prestigious NID posing as a journalist and said to have a pyschological disorder stabbed him thrice in the face with a pocket knife outside a local court.

Feb 9: New Delhi: Facing intense opposition from within and outside,government refuses to give a go-ahead to commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal,a genetically-modified version of the vegetable that is said to be more resistant to pests.

Feb 11: New Delhi: In a significant gesture,the government says it is ready to “welcome” Kashmiris who had gone to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) if they were ready to return after giving up militancy.

Feb 13: Pune: Terror strikes Pune as a powerful bomb ripped apart a popular bakery near a Jewish prayer house,killing nine people,including five women and a foreigner,and injuring 45 in the first major attack since 26/11 carnage.

Feb 16: New Delhi: Government extends by one year the visa for controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin who has also moved for permanent residency in India.

Feb 23: New Delhi: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee lives upto popular expectations by not raising fares and freight rates in her Budget and marginally reduced the tariff for transportation of foodgrains,fertiliser and kerosene to fight price rise.

Feb 26: New Delhi: The Union Budget proposes major personal income tax sops but effected a two per cent hike in excise duty across the board while slapping levies on petrol and diesel,partially rolling back stimulus measures in the face of economic revival.

Mar 3: New Delhi: Australia acknowledges that some of the attacks on Indians were racists in nature,causing considerable damage to its reputation among Indian people and says its premier criminal research agency has been roped in to study the issue and suggest remedial measures.

Mar 5: New Delhi: Stringent MCOCA is invoked against a self-styled Godman,recently caught here on charges of running a multi-crore sex racket,with police claiming he was “eyeing big donations” from foreign agencies,including Christian missionaries.

Mar 13: New Delhi: India rejects Pakistan’s charge of involvement in Lahore blasts and said such “unfounded” allegations puts a “strain” on bilateral relationship and it has no interest in destabilising that country.

Mar 16: New Delhi: The huge garland that Mayawati wore at a public rally causes disruption of the Lok Sabha even as the estimated value of the currency notes in it ranges from Rs 21 lakhs to Rs 15 crore and an IT probe into its source is on.

Mar 18: New Delhi: Three months after he took over reigns of the party,BJP President Nitin Gadkari brings in a mix of youth,experience and women in his team of office bearers inducting heavyweights like Vasundhara Raje and Ravishankar Prasad and hardliners like Varun Gandhi and Vinay Katiyar.

Mar 21: Bhubaneshwar: India becomes the first country to have a ‘manoeuvrable’ supersonic cruise missile when it successfully test-fires the vertical-launch version of 290-km range BrahMos from a warship in the Bay of Bengal off the Orissa coast.

Mar 23: New Delhi: In an observation that will cheer votaries of pre-marital sex and live-in-partners,the Supreme Court opines that a man and woman living together without marriage cannot be construed as an offence.

Mar 28: Balasore (Orissa): India successfully test-fires its nuclear-capable,700-km range ballistic missile Agni-I from Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast,a day after launching two other short-range missiles.

Mar 31: New Delhi: Gen V K Singh,the seniormost infantry officer,is handed over charge of the Indian Army,the world’s second largest,by outgoing chief Gen Deepak Kapoor.

Apr 1: New Delhi: The historic Right to Education comes into force providing free and compulsory schooling to children in the 6-14 year age bracket with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking the states to join in this national effort with full resolve and determination.

Apr 3: New Delhi: The biggest Census exercise ever to be attempted in human history to cover India’s 1.2 billion population begins with President Pratibha Patil being the first to be enumerated in the decennial exercise.

Apr 4: New Delhi: India virtually rules out handing over Ajmal Kasab,the lone terrorist caught during the 26/11 strikes,or his associate Fahim Ansari to Pakistan as it emphasises that “justice” was taking its course in this country in the Mumbai attacks case.

Apr 5: New Delhi:Apr 11: New Delhi: Scientists from across India announce the first-ever detail mapping of mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB),the bug responsible for spread of the disease that kills 1.7 million people every year globally.

Apr 12: New Delhi: The Prime Minister reconstitutes the National Integration Council (NIC) bringing in new faces including Union Ministers A K Antony,Mamata Banerjee,Veerappa Moily and Kapil Sibal.

Apr 15: Sriharikota: India’s Rs 330 crore mission to flight test the first indigenous cryogenic engine fails after the rocket powered by it crashed into the sea five minutes after a perfect lift-off in a setback to its space programme.

Apr 19: New Delhi:The Supreme Court upholds the life sentence given to Manu Sharma,son of senior Congress leader Venod Sharma,for killing model Jessica Lall 11 years ago,saying his guilt has been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Apr 20: Shillong: Mukul Sangma is sworn in as Meghalaya Chief Minister in the fourth change of guard in two years after a revolt by ruling Congress MLAs forced his predecessor D D Lapang out of the top post.

Apr 23: Bangalore: The maiden test flight of the most advanced of the nine ‘Tejas’ aircraft is successfully carried out,bringing the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme “very close” to the Initial Operations Clearance.

May 5: New Delhi: In a blow to investigating agencies,the Supreme Court declares as “illegal” compulsory use of narco-analysis,brain-mapping and polygraph tests on suspects.

May 6: Mumbai: Pakistani gunman Ajmal Amir Kasab is sentenced to death by a special court for the Mumbai terror attacks,three days after he was pronounced guilty of mass murder and waging war against the Indian state.

May 8: New Delhi/Ranchi: The BJP will head a new coalition government in Jharkand with ruling alliance partners JMM and AJSU announcing their support ending the crisis but questions remained over rotating chief ministership.

May 10: New Delhi: The Supreme Court allows Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC),belonging to the Reddy brothers,to resume mining in the undisputed region in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

May 11: New Delhi: The Supreme Court upholds the constitutional validity of reservation for backward classes in rural and urbal local bodies,including posts of chairpersons,and rejected the plea that the creamy layer should be excluded.

May 12: Ghaziabad: Surinder Koli,a convict in the sensational Nithari killings case,was sentenced to death by a special CBI court here for raping and murdering seven-year-old girl Arti.

May 15: Jaipur: Former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat dies of cardiac arrest,two days after he was admitted to a hospital here complaining of uneasiness and breathing problems.

May 21: Siliguri (WB): Top Gorkha leader Madan Tamang,who recently fell out with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) over the issue of Gorkhaland,is stabbed to death by unidentified men during clashes by rival Gorkha groups in the hill town of Darjeeling.

May 22: Mangalore: A Boeing 737 plane of Air India’s low budget carrier overshoots the airport runway here and burst into flames killing 158 persons but eight others survived.

May 26: Chandigarh: Disgraced ex-Haryana DGP SPS Rathore is jailed after he was arrested for the first time shortly after a sessions court enhanced his prison term to 18 months for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra–who later committed suicide–20 years back.

May 30: Ranchi: Three-time Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren resigns after failing to get the support of Congress and its ally JVM(P) ahead of trust vote in the assembly that may pave the way for a spell of President’s rule in the state.

Jun 3: New Delhi: India unveils its first indigenous vaccine against the dreaded swine flu which claims over 18,000 lives globally and more than 1,000 in the country.

Jun 4: New Delhi: Indian Mujahideen,whose hand is suspected in over 10 serial blasts in Delhi and other parts of the country that claimed nearly 500 lives,is declared as a terrorist outfit.

Jun 6: New Delhi: The controversy over Spanish writer Javier Moro’s book ‘The Red Saree’,a fictionalised account of the life of Sonia Gandhi,gets murkier with the author threatening to sue her counsel Abhishek Singhvi,who in turn terms Moro’s charges as comic if not tragic.

Jun 7: Bhopal: Nearly 26 years after the world’s worst industrial disaster left more than 15,000 dead in the Bhopal gas tragedy,former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others are convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment in a judgement that came under attack from civil rights activists and parties.

Jun 16: Lucknow: Nearly six months after his expulsion from Samajwadi Party,Amar Singh announces launch of Akhil Bharitya Lok Manch with himself as President and actress-politician Jaya Prada his deputy.

Jun 21: New Delhi: A Rs 1,500 crore package for enhancing compensation for the kin of those who died and those debilitated in the Bhopal gas disaster is finalised by a Group of Ministers (GoM).

Jun 22: New Delhi/Mumbai: Auto and taxi fares go up by 35 per cent in Delhi following increase in CNG prices while a similar hike is in the offing in Mumbai after 80,000 drivers in the commercial capital stop plying their vehicles demanding revision in rates.

Jun 25: New Delhi: Petrol and diesel will cost up to Rs 3.73 per litre more,households will have to pay an additional Rs 35 per cylinder and poor man’s cooking medium kerosene will be dearer by Rs 3 a litre,the government said here.

Jul 3: New Delhi: Delhi gets a swanky new world-class Rs 9,000 crore airport that will integrate domestic and international operations and is expected to handle 34 million passengers annually.

Jul 12: Sriharikota: India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) successfully places into orbit remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B and four other satellites after a perfect lift off from the spaceport here.

Jul 14: New Delhi: Spurred by an increase in oil prices,the overall inflation continues its double-digit run for the fourth straight month in a row at 10.55 per cent in June,mounting pressure on RBI to raise key interest rates in its July policy review.

Jul 19: Sainthia (WB): A high speed Sealdah-bound express train tears into the rear another train killing 63 people and injuring 92 others at Sainithia station of Birbhum district.

New Delhi: In a setback to senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar,the Delhi High Court refuses to quash various charges including that of murder against him in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case,saying the delay in prosecution has apparently benefited him.

Jul 23: Ahmedabad: The CBI files chargesheet against Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah,a close aide of Narendra Modi,and 14 others in connection with the fake encounter of Sohrabbuddin Sheikh and the “brutual killing” of his wife,Kausarbi.

Jul 30: London/New Delhi: A major scam hit the Commonwealth Games with allegations being made that a substantial sum of money was transferred to a little known UK company from the Games Organising Committee (OC) about which the British Government has raised questions.

Jul 31: Hyderabad: It was a landslide victory for the Telangana Rashtra Samiti candidates in 11 out of 12 Assembly constituencies that went for by-polls in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh on July 27.

Aug 6: Leh: At least 103 people are killed and another 370 injured when flash floods triggered by torrential rains struck this Himalayan town in Ladakh region,northeast of Jammu and Kashmir,leaving a trail of death and destruction.

New Delhi: In a major setback to Posco’s steel plant project in Orissa,the Environment Ministry asks the state government to stop all work related to it,including land acquisition,as it violated forest rights law.

Aug 11: New Delhi: The proceedings for withdrawal of prosecution against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in Bofors pay off case will be expedited as the Supreme Court allowed CBI’s plea for sending records of the case to the trial court where proceedings were halted for want of case records.

Aug 12: Lucknow: Cocking a snook at critics of Chief Minister Mayawati,Uttar Pradesh government will spend Rs 490 crore more for setting up parks and memorials for Dalit icons,vnearly 10 per cent of the supplementary budget passed by thestate assembly amid uproarious scenes.

Aug 16: New Delhi: After Korean steel giant Posco,Vedanta group’s bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri hills in Orissa faces an uncertain future with a government panel opposing the venture,saying it violates various laws

including those relating to rights of tribal communities.

Aug 17: Leh: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announces a Rs 125 crore relief package for the victims of the flash floods here after the devastating cloudburst and says the focus will be to build houses before the onset of harsh winter.

Aug 18: Hyderabad: Satyam Computer’s tainted founder B Ramalinga Raju secures bail from the Andhra Pradesh High Court,over 17 months after his arrest on charges of allegedly fudging the IT company’s accounts.

Aug 25: New Delhi: Warning that there has been no let up in attempts to radicalise the youth,Home Minister P Chidambaram says a new phenomenon of “saffron terrorism” involved in many bomb blasts has been uncovered.

Aug 30: New Delhi: The government introduces Direct Taxes Code (DTC),offering much lower benefits than in the original proposal,that seeks to increase tax exemption on income from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 2 lakh and fix the corporate tax at a flat 30 per cent.

Sept 2: New Delhi: Acting on the directive of the Supreme Court,government decides to release an extra 2.5 million tonnes of foodgrains to states for distribution among the poor but it will not not be free.

Sept 3: New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi becomes the Congress President for the record fourth consecutive term with a message to party colleagues that they should not forget the “big responsibility” of working for all sections of society irrespective of whether the party is in power or not.

Sept 7: New Delhi: P J Thomas is sworn-in as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner amid BJP’s boycott and complaint to President Pratibha Patil over the manner in which the appointment of the officer with a “blemished record” was made to the Constitutional post.

Sept 10: New Delhi: Alarm bells rang in Delhi as Yamuna rose a metre over the danger mark with a looming threat of flooding low-lying areas,prompting the city government to go on an overdrive to evacuate people to safer places.

Sept 11: Ranchi: Arjun Munda is sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Minister heading a BJP-JMM coalition at a ceremony skipped by top BJP leaders,including L K Advani,amidst reports of differences within the party over forming a government again with its erstwhile partner.

Sept 18: New Delhi: In incidents apparently intended to cause terror ahead of Commonwealth Games,two unidentified motorcycle-borne attackers shot and injured two Taiwanese nationals outside the Jama Masjid here which was followed by a crude pressure cooker bomb blast in a car in the same area.

Sept 25: New Delhi: Under a major 8-point initiative to address the unrest in the Kashmir valley,a group of interlocutors is being appointed to hold a “sustained dialogue” with various shades of opinion,about 200 youth detained for stone-pelting are being released and the presence of security personnel is being de-scaled.

Sept 28: New Delhi: The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee officials express satisfaction that athletes and delegates from 46 participating nations,who have already entered the Games Village,are pretty happy with the arrangements and facilities.

Ghaziabad: A special CBI court sentences to death Surinder Koli– servant of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher– for rape and murder of a nine-year -old girl in the sensational Nithari killings in 2006,saying he deserves a more severe punishment for his crimes.

Sept 29: Tembhli (Mah): The world’s first ID project where biometric data is used to provide unique identification numbers for India’s billion-plus citizens rolls out with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi handing over the first set of 12-digit numbers to 10 tribals.

Sept 30: Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court rules by a majority verdict that the disputed land in Ayodhya be divided equally into three parts among Hindus and Muslims and that the place where the makeshift temple of Lord Ram exists belongs to Hindus.

Oct 1: New Delhi: President Pratibha Patil and Prince Charles would jointly declare the Commonwealth Games open,say British diplomatic sources playing down reports of any row over the issue.

Oct 3: New Delhi: A plethora of musical instruments enthrals a capacity crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium during the opening ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games,showcasing the rich cultural heritage of India.

Oct 11: Bangalore: Amid scenes of pandemonium,Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa “won” a vote of confidence in the Assembly under a cloud after the Speaker disqualified 16 MLAs,including 11 of BJP,hours before the trial of strength.

Oct 13: New Delhi: Government names three interlocutors,including eminent journalist Dilip Padgaonkar,to hold talks with all shades of opinion including the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir as part of efforts to bring peace in the state.

Nov 22: New Delhi: The UPA government faces further embarassment when the Supreme Court raises questions about the controversial appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner(CVC) who is an accused in a criminal case.

New Delhi: After a year-long tussle between Civil Aviation and Environment Ministries,the Navi Mumbai airport finally gets the green signal but with riders about resettlement of displaced people and development of mangroves around the site.

Nov 23: Patna: Riding a massive wave on the theme of development,Nitish Kumar leads the JD(U)-BJP alliance to a landslide four-fifth majority in the Assembly elections routing Lalu Prasad’s RJD-LJP combine and a weak Congress to return to power for a second consecutive term.

Nov 24: Hyderabad: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy,a YSR loyalist,is sworn-in as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh,capping hectic political developments that saw the exit of K Rosaiah from the post as Congress prepared to face challenging times ahead in the state.

Nov 30: Hyderabad/New Delhi: After months of defiance,rebel Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy resigns from the party and quit his Lok Sabha seat from Andhra Pradesh,accusing party chief Sonia Gandhi of backing ‘forces’ against him and who are trying to erase the YSR legacy.

Nov 30: New Delhi: In a fresh embarrassment to the government,the Supreme Court questions Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas’s moral right to supervise CBI’s probe into the 2G spectrum scam as he himself was telecom secretary at the relevant point of time.

Dec 1: New Delhi: Writer Arundhati Roy,Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others are booked on charges of sedition by Delhi Police for their “anti-India” speech at a seminar here last month.

Dec 2: Hyderabad/New Delhi: After months of defiance,rebel Congress MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy resigns from the party and quit his Lok Sabha seat from Andhra Pradesh,accusing party chief Sonia Gandhi of backing ‘forces’ against him and who are trying to erase the YSR legacy.

Dec 4: New Delhi: Supreme Court directs that the original tapes containing the conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others pertaining to the 2G spectrum allocation case be handed over to it in a sealed cover.

Dec 5: New Delhi: France becomes the first country to sign agreements to set up nuclear reactors in India,two years after the country’s nuclear isolation prompted by Pokhran tests in 1998 ended.

Dec 5 New Delhi: Germany backs India’s bid to gain membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG),applauding this country’s “excellent” non-proliferation track record.

Dec 6: Varanasi: Terror strikes Varanasi when a low-intensity blast ripped through a crowded bathing ghat on the banks of the Ganges river during evening prayers killing a child and injuring 37 people,including six foreigners.

Dec 6: Ghaziabad: Controversial former UP chief secretary Neera Yadav and Flex Industries owner Ashok Chaturvedi are convicted and sentenced to a four-year jail term by a special CBI court here in a land scam case when she was NOIDA’s chief executive officer in 1992-94.

Dec 7: New Delhi/Chennai: Turning the heat on former Telecom Minister A Raja in the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam,CBI carries out searches at his residences in Delhi and Chennai besides carrying out raids at the premises of four Telecom officials,including his personal secretary R K Chandolia.

Dec 11: New Delhi: India lodges a strong protest with the US for subjecting Ambassador Meera Shankar to ‘pat-down’ security check at an American airport as Deputy Chief of US Embassy here was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs.

Dec 14: New Delhi/Chennai: In a crackdown here and in several places in Tamil Nadu in connection with the 2G spectrum scam,the CBI searches the office and residential premises of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia,former TRAI Chairman Pradip Baijal and a Chennai NGO with which DMK MP Kanimozhi is linked.

Dec 18: New Delhi: At a time when the nuclear deal was being negotiated,the US had tried to pressurise India over its ties with Iran and even objected to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Delhi,saying it would give “platform for an enemy of the US”,according to Wikileak documents.

Dec 19: New Delhi: India decides to send over 100 specially trained commandos to protect its mission in Yemen amid rising threats from terror groups including banned al-Qaeda in that country.

Dec 20: New Delhi/Chennai: CBI sends notices to A Raja and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia asking them to appear before the agency for questioning and grills former TRAI chief Pradip Baijal in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.

Dec 20: New Delhi: Countering the Opposition clamour for Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into 2G scam,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh makes an unprecedented offer to appear before the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) but BJP and Left parties appear to be dismissive of it.

Dec 22: New Delhi: In a bid to cool the skyrocketing retail prices,government abolishes import duties on onion and bans its exports for an indefinite period even as wholesale prices started showing signs of decline.

Dec 23: New Delhi: In a setback to veteran Congress leader N D Tiwari in the three-year old paternity battle,the Delhi High Court directs him to undergo a DNA test on a suit filed by a young man claiming to be his biological son.

Dec 24: New Delhi/Pune: The CBI raids Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi’s homes and offices in Delhi,Mumbai and Pune,two months after the sporting extravaganza ended amid allegations of financial wrongdoings in awarding of some contracts.

Dec 24: The CBI questions former Telecom Minister A Raja for over eight hours on alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation,over a year after the agency registered a case in this connection.

Dec 25: Sriharikota: In a jolt to India’s space programme,the launch of a communication satellite aboard a homegrown vehicle failed after the rocket exploded midair minutes after the lift-off from the spaceport here.

Dec 27: Jaipur: Gujjars,on a war path over the reservation issue,laid siege to more roads,highways and rail routes and enforced shutdowns in some cities as the stand-off between the community and the Rajasthan government persists for the 8th day.

Dec. 28: Hyderabad: Congress MPs from Telangana call off their hunger strike as Andhra Pradesh government announced it would withdraw all cases against pro-statehood students and other protesters in connection with the agitations for and against bifurcation of the state.

Dec 29 : Ghaziabad(UP): The CBI files a closure report in the Aarushi double murder case before a court on the grounds there was no available evidence at the crime scene to pursue the probe,meeting a dead-end in the case that shook the country over two years back.