Emiliano Martinez's last-minute wonder save to deny Randal Muani proved decisive as Argentina went on to win the 2022 World Cup. In a rollercoaster of a World Cup Soccer Final, the France winger had a chance to score the winner and wrap up what could have been the greatest World Cup comeback of all time. However, the Argentina goalkeeper stayed big and made the vital save to take the tensest of finals to a penalty shootout. That save made Lionel Messi’s Dream of a world cup win possible putting him in the league comprising Maradona, Pele, and other players called as the greatest of the Game. It was a world cup marked by behind the scene controversies but also witnessed exciting on-field games and incredible moments. It had to be a world cup in the Year 2022: a year marked by a last-minute save by maybe those in power to avoid a full-blown world war-like crisis arising out of the war in Ukraine. CIA chief Burns said that India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping raising concern over the possibility of a nuke war probably initiated by Putin in Russia has also impacted the latter. Though there may be many versions of the commentary on actual events, the world was on the brink of nuclear war is not a possibility that we can rule out. But as war prolongs the same vigil and sense should prevail is the hope we have from the year 2023. Ukraine has fought well as a nation against aggressors and had its people as saviors for 2022.
Britain also hopes for a last-minute save by the new PM Rushi Sunak. The economy of Britain was impacted by Brexit, worldwide trends, and internal political instability. The US is heading to a big recession thanks to the trade war, logistics, war-generated inflation, and fiscal policies. The internal polarization of politics also resulted in some policy paralysis. The democrats were saved in midterms by some last min posturing from the far right on some contentious issues. But the world stills awaits last minute save against climate change. Natural disasters occurred worldwide as a manifestation of climate change. Maybe the world was saved from recession thanks to the economies of India and China. Economic projections about the Indian economy are bullish as it overtook the UK this year in GDP to be the fifth largest economy. India will become the third economic superpower by 2037 and a $ 10 trillion economy by 2035. The pandemic had a particularly devastating effect in absolute terms and India was impacted, yet the economy bounced back. This is thanks to resilience, strong fundamentals, political stability, and fiscal discipline. India is a hot unicorn destination in 22. India has seen 21 startups entering the unicorn club. With this, the total count of Indian tech startups that have ever entered the unicorn club to date stands at 107. These 107 Indian unicorns have raised more than $94 Bn in funding to date and are valued at around $344 Bn combined. Job market has risen and unemployment has gone down. But we should guard against populist agendas and freebie culture promoted and popularized by certain political segments. Worldwide we saw tech layoffs in Silicon Valley. Indian services companies did well despite issues like attrition, and lower demand. The twitter –Musk saga continues with the politicization of social media. Social media still continues to find solutions to regulation. Government-Big tech showdown will also result in changing models and disruption
China and Pakistan continue to offer challenges along the borders. The political instability in Pakistan and Covid related issues faced recently by China have not been helpful to mitigate the challenges as we have seen in Arunachal incursions of china and the political campaign backed by Pakistan on world forums despite India showing significant success on Kashmir internal security. India has played its cards well in international diplomacy. Its initiatives like Quad and tight-walk in the UN during the Ukraine crisis safeguarding its own interests were really commendable. As we welcomed the first-ever lady president from the tribal community and saw India taking up the leadership of the Security Council in its turn we have challenges marked for 2023.
Maharashtra saw power change due to political turmoil resulting from some strange opportunistic political alliances which were initiated after the fractured 2019 mandate. The level of politics is dismal and we need a last-minute savior with some old principled political alignments to steer the State Governance out of corruption, divisive politics, and chaos. Gujarat saw record confirmation for BJP. HP followed the trend of anti-incumbency. AAP is trying to gain popularity through some populist agendas Congress had its farcical internal elections. It needs a turnaround and new ideas in 2023. Regional parties have relevance at the state level, but they need a unifying actor and factor centrally. We need constructive opposition in Democracy.
The year started with the Omicron variant and the virus is making news again as we end the year. Vaccine programs like the stupendous effort we saw in India have helped but the mutating nature of the virus, as well as the limitations of healthcare systems, pose few threats. The turmoil in Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, Africa, S America continues to create losses of life and property.
This year we lost many celebrities including one of the greatest voices ever heard on this planet: Lata Mangeshkar. It was a great loss to our individual lives. It was annus-horribilis for two Indian lifelines: Cricket and Bollywood. Indian cricket team lost vital tests to England and SA, lost the Asia cup, and T20 world cup. The team management has lost a clue in team composition, and strategies. Let’s hope 2023 induces changes starting with management and team leadership. Bollywood lost its connection with the audience as the audience is catered to some good content on OTT and streaming platforms. Bollywood definitely needs a savior.
2023 poses new challenges for all. Hope we meet them
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