In late October, much after that first uprising in Tunisia, humanity became seven billion people-strong. A tiny slice of the adult population therein owns a chunk of economic wealth. Money spells power. The Arab Spring had been long overdue. Hosni Mubarak was forced out from Egypt's presidency. Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed. Oil prices soared. The levelling continued.
In 2011, we confronted solid problems in the global economy. Military superpower United States got Osama bin Laden. But the US was already financially troubled, meriting giant relief at home. Wall Street had been put on watch. Europe joined the list with a contagion of economic woes and relief packages for panacea. The dollar, despite ailing US economy, holds up because it is the currency of global trade and reserves. Insecurity stokes demand for it. The overall global drift is personified by the dilemma — are currencies safe or is gold safer? What do we do when gold price is high? That predicament is 2011's distilled essence.
INDIA AND HAZARE
In India, 2011 belonged to Anna Hazare. He couldn't be ignored because his cause was relevant. The much-publicised 2G scandal had brought corruption to focus, and the anti-graft campaign coincided with social media's ability to harness popular sentiment. Notwithstanding the circus, it seemed Hazare's movement was a child, albeit wild child, of the times.
Weakened internally by turf battles and targeted by political parties fearing erosion of credibility, it wasn't long before its core message of anti-graft suffered diverse interpretation by every Tom, Dick and Harry. The ‘ Ramlila Maidan' incident happened, shoes were hurled and slaps traded. Even Hazare provided some inane quotes. Yet, his campaign achieved what Indian politics' Third Front couldn't deliver — it momentarily threatened both the UPA and the NDA. 2011 saw the law catch up with Suresh Kalmadi, MP and former president of the Indian Olympic Association. He was jailed for corruption charges pertaining to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
In Karnataka, a chief minister and a minister were arrested in the Bellary mining scandal. One reason anti-graft commanded quick public empathy in India was that inflation had hit hard, adding its share to the popular resentment against profiteering. Late 2011, as if the rupee's eroded domestic buying power wasn't enough, it depreciated sharply against the dollar. While economists remain divided on whether the RBI should intervene or not, there have been suggestions that the rupee's real value is still lower.
Except for a historic change of government in West Bengal, which can be explained as long-awaited transition realised, neither Hazare nor economics altered the idiom of India's politics. Millions were spent on a park of mute statues in Uttar Pradesh; economic reforms were delayed, project implementation dragged, Parliament was paralysed, Rath Yatras continued, and every allegation was met with counter-allegation, confusing the crowded country.
CORPORATE INDIA
Corporate India would definitely remember 2011 as the year its dream run soured. Carrying on from the 2G spectrum investigations and the Radia tapes controversy, February 2011 witnessed the arrest of former union telecom minister A. Raja. Besides the other politically-significant accused, Kanimozhi, the list of those arrested included senior officials of telecom companies. By year-end, some of them got bail. In the atmosphere of Wall Street occupied, white collar crimes committed, and Rajat Gupta among suspects, corporate officials everywhere were reduced to being celebrities in their circles. The phase of blind adulation faded. A regular rich-list showing select people with so much money now seemed improperly-distributed wealth, not triumph of free market. Labour was freshly restless.
A long-drawn out strike affected Maruti Udyog, the poster boy of Indian car manufacturing. Up in the air, Kingfisher's good times ran into rough weather thanks to debt and rising fuel price, traceable to local taxes and the Arab Spring. On the ground, GDP growth rate slowed down. Amidst all this, a successor to Ratan Tata was announced, there were rumours of reconciliation between the Ambani brothers, and a man whose life reminds corporate and market alike what innovation means – Steve Jobs – left us.
As the year ends, we could take a moment to reflect on what the year ahead will have in store.
(The author is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai.)