When I look at the state that our country is in today, I feel that despite all the slogans against poverty and corruption, nothing really is happening. Much more needs to be done to alleviate the sufferings of the poor in villages and in cities. The money that is stashed in Swiss Banks needs to be brought back to the country. Though I must admit I don't know much about politics, I am still disappointed by the committees and associations of various institutes. The political scenario does not look good but the when it comes to the field of arts, I think we are doing well. There are certain Gurus and Ustads who have been doing good work, specially in classical field. I believe that we need to lay emphasis on our tradition, art and culture. Our inheritance is our strength and we should preserve it and take it forward. If we try to promote things that are not positive or traditional, it leaves a bad impression on our youth. Therefore, traditional institutions should be highlighted for a better and brighter future. The lack of dance departments in major universities of the country is very disheartening. Students come from all over the world on scholarships to learn about Indian tradition through our classical dance forms, but later they do not get enough career opportunities because of lack of good universities to employ them. This is not a pleasant scenario. However, we are putting all our efforts towards changing the situation. I want to encourage more and more people towards learning the classical dances. Recently, I have been extremely busy taking workshops all over the world. I have been frequenting countries like USA, Singapore, Bangladesh and South Africa to teach the children Indian traditions through dance.

Seeing the Indian middle-class rise despite all the economic and democratic battles was one uplifting point of 2012. I see the Indian middle-class as a strange anomaly. They want democracy without practising their democratic right; most of them are not that eager to exercise their universal franchise. Despite all the naysayers, a lot of young politicians have their hearts in the right place. What they choose to do depends on opportunities that they receive. Akhilesh Yadav seems to be going great—he would be an interesting politician to watch out for in 2013. With the government and civil organizations, India has done better and better as far as the literacy rate is concerned. If you put it under a scanner, no particular sector has done really “well”, but then IT and education has shown promise. When I think about the future, and in my own areas of interest, I can barely think of anyone exciting to collaborate with. As a filmmaker, I am always looking for interesting people to work with. But they do not make people like Satyajit Ray anymore. My association with the stalwarts such as him has spoilt me. But the rise of vernacular is uplifting, and the regions of India have produced quite a few interesting writers. With the year coming to an end, I find myself looking back upon it with mixed emotions. In 2012, though India bypassed calamities, I was deeply disturbed by Sandy, the storm which struck America. In this flat world of ours, we have friends and family scattered all over. A tragedy that strikes anywhere impacts people everywhere. On a personal level, I would say that I am eagerly awaiting a retrospective of my work which would be shown in an international film festival. That would be the high point of the year for me. Revisiting my older film projects would be nostalgic.

What a year this was—scams galore. Somewhere in this dismal “scamscape” a sector within the Indian democratic system showed great promise—the judiciary. The way in which it handled matters with clarity, transparency and fairness was heartening for me as I have been a participant of the Indian legal fraternity. My vote for that sector which shows promise goes for the social justice system. A democratic system cannot stress enough on making the legal framework stronger and I believe that India will continue to shine in this regard. On a social angle, I saw the government working tirelessly towards the abolition of child malnutrition and that was an encouraging sign. However, the best moment of the year for me happened far away from Indian shores and was Barack Obama's re-election as the President of the USA for his second term. On the flipside, the political class of the country managed to disappoint in the past year. Not just the voters, but the country watching them. It would, however, be erroneous to believe that the political class is corrupted. Such a sweeping statement not only demoralises people, it also serves no purpose. There are participants such as Arun Jaitley who show promise. As long as we allow our democratic system to function I believe we could get a lot done. Alas, stalling Parliament for an entire monsoon session does not allow a lot to get done. Perhaps in 2013, we will see a change. On a personal front, I am looking forward to completing Voices of Dissent in the following year. The book will highlight dissenting judgments of the Supreme Court which have subsequently been accepted as “correct” by the court, which is conducive to progressive jurisprudence.

EXACTLY a year ago, Democratic World (or DW) was launched in its English language avatar and in the 12 months since, has grown and expanded in directions that perhaps even we had not expected. When I look back at the year gone by, what comes to mind are the faces of all the people who have appeared in our pages and the inspiring stories and thoughts that they have shared with the readers of DW. In a way, this editorial is also a thank-you note to all those who gave of their time, allowed us to take endless photographs and opened their doors to our writers—especially in the first few issues, when we were still in the process of carving out our niche in the world of publications. So far, we have tried to keep our selection of stories as ‘democratic’ as possible, widening the meaning of the word to include people from all walks and spheres of life. In the pages of DW, you will find political and business leaders, writers and painters, social workers and sportspeople, lawyers and doctors. We have faithfully taken opposing views on burning issues and stayed true to the vision that voices from every corner of society have a right to be heard. This last year has also been a time of introspection and we are aware that we still have a lot to learn. In forthcoming issues, we are committed to making our content cover a wider range of subjects and delve deeper into their nuances. To do that, we would also need your help and participation; so write in to us, comment on our work and send your suggestions our way. The year has ended with a few dramatic happenings, both here in India and in the larger world. Barrack Obama has been elected for a historic second term and Ajmal Kasab, one of the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attack, has finally been dealt the death penalty. At the Olympics, India came home with more medals than ever before and Sachin Tendulkar hit his 100th century. Here at DW we always tend to keep our focus on the positive stories which hold out hope for the future. It’s an approach we have consciously adopted because while we know that there is a lot that is wrong with the world around us, we also believe that there are many people who are fighting to bring about a positive change. In 2013, we hope to bring you more stories and interviews with such people. Before I close, I also want to express my abiding gratitude to my father, the late Mr Ashok Kumar Malhotra; Democratic World is a direct outcome of his vision and efforts and I hope that he is looking down at us with a sense of accomplishment and pride in our efforts. I wish you all a Happy New Year.

ELECTION \\ US President Barack Obama returned for a second term at the White House after an initially close-run battle against Republican Mitt Romney. Heads of state broadly welcomed Obama’s election to a second term in the White House but urged him to play a leading role in issues such as boosting the economy, solving climate change and improving relations with the Arab world. Speaking at the end of the campaign, Obama looked briefly emotional as he thanked “all those who have lived and breathed the hard work of change”. Barack Obama’s master stroke was to repeat the demographic strategy of 2008: win over the Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, youth and educated women. Another Obama ace was the ‘get out and vote’ exercise, which disproved the assumption that Democratic voters would be reluctant to turn up. The outreach programme consisting of phone calls, Twitter updates, messages and door-knocking brought out the so-called unenthusiastic Democrats in the swing State of Ohio, for example, which usually decides who becomes the President of the United States.

OBITUARY \\ In 2012, Bollywood became that much poorer as several veterans of the Hindi film industry breathed their last. Some of the bigger names included veteran character artist AK Hangal, actor and wrestler Dara Singh, veteran actress Achla Sachdev, satirist and actor Jaspal Bhatti, and superstar Rajesh Khanna. Khanna was a Bollywood actor, film producer and politician, who was referred to as the “original superstar” of Indian cinema. He earned these titles following 15 consecutive solo hit films in the 1970s, a record that remains unbroken. One of the most famous and popular Indian directors, Yash Chopra, also breathed his last in the September of 2012. He was known as the king of romance, a title he earned for his epic romances which he brought to the screen either as producer or director. The action thriller Deewar was one of his well-known projects and is credited with setting Amitabh Bacchan on the path to life-long fame. The Bollywood music industry was hit as well with the death of Pakistani singer Mehdi Hasan. Hasan was one of the best known ghazal singers of our times. Veteran cinematographer Ashok Mehta, too, breathed his last in Mumbai in August. Some luminaries in the world of business and art who breathed their last include SK Khaitan, the chairman of the Khaitan Group; T Samuel, the pioneer of Pocket Cartoons in India; eminent writer and president of the Sahitya Akademi, Sunil Gangopadhyay; Urdu poet Muzaffar Razmi; and the White Revolutionary and Milkman of India, Verghese Kurien. India also mourned the loss of a strong woman, freedom fighter and social activist, Captain Lakshmi Sehgal, who breathed her last in July. India’s first woman photo-journalist, Homai Vyarawalla, also died at the age of 98. She started her career in the 1930s and thereafter received notice at the national level when she photographed many political and national leaders, including Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and Indira Gandhi. At the onset of World War II, she started working on assignments of the The Illustrated Weekly of India magazine, which published many of her iconic black and white images. At the end of November, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray breathed his last, stalling all life in Mumbai, signalling the end of an era of an in Maharashtra politics. On an international level, the world mourned the death of Neil Alden Armstrong, the US astronaut and first man to walk on the moon. Armstrong died at the age of 82. Sally Ride, the first US woman to travel into space, also passed away in July 2012.

Nobel Prize \\ Nobel Prize for peace in 2012 went to the European Union, which raised quite a storm in the social media. Nobel committee members lauded six decades of reconciliation among former enemies. The decision sounded like a plea to support the endangered institution in a difficult hour.

SCAMS \\ India saw its fair share of scams in 2012, the biggest one being the coal allocation scam, or ‘Coalgate’. Coalgate was a political scandal concerning the Indian government’s allocation of the nation’s coal deposits to public sector entities (PSEs) and private companies. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) office accused the Centre of allocating coal blocks in an inefficient manner during the period 2004-2009. The CAG Final Report tabled in Parliament put the “windfall gain” to the allocatees at $35.08 billion. In other news, Congress Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra was caught in a corner. Allegedly, a series of companies owned by Vadra were buying up acres of land in Haryana and Rajasthan. It was also reported that one of the biggest real estate companies of the country, DLF, was also involved in the land scam. One newspaper reported that Vadra’s company had increased in value nearly 600-fold in the last five years. BJP President, Nitin Gadkari also came under the scanner when his close aides—including his driver and accountant—were shown to have stakes in Purti Power and Sugar Limited, a ghost company.

CRICKET \\ In April 2012, Sachin Tendulkar took the nation by surprise as he accepted a Rajya Sabha nomination proposed by the President of India. He is the first active sportsperson and cricketer to have been nominated to the Rajya Sabha and he took the oath on June 4, 2012. Allegedly, Tendulkar commented that “cricket comes first,” when reporters asked whether he preferred cricket to Parliament. Tendulkar has been one of the most prolific run scorers in ODIs with 18,426 runs and an aggregate of 15,470 Test runs. He also holds the record for the highest number of centuries in both Test (51) and ODI (49) cricket. On March 16, 2012, Tendulkar scored his 100th international hundred against Bangladesh in a league match of the Asia Cup. In August 2011, Rahul Dravid declared his retirement from ODIs as well as Twenty20 international cricket. In March 2012, Dravid announced his retirement from all international and first-class cricket. 2012 also saw cricket great VVS Laxman retire from all international formats of the game.

OLYMPICS \\ India’s medal haul in the London 2012 Olympics was the biggest ever in the country’s history. The event was held between the 27th of July and 12th of August, 2012. The Indian Olympic Association sent the nation’s largest delegation to the Games ever, as a total of 83 athletes—60 men and 23 women—went to compete in 13 events. Men’s field hockey was the only team-based sport in which India had a representation in these Olympics. The country also marked its Olympic return in weightlifting, after the International Weightlifting Federation imposed a two-year suspension for the nation’s athletes in Beijing because of doping scandal. This was India’s most successful Olympics based on the medal standings, with the country winning a total of 6 medals (2 Silver and 4 Bronze), and doubling the nation’s overall record in Beijing. Two medals each were awarded to the athletes in shooting and wrestling. Wrestler and Olympic bronze medalist Sushil Kumar managed to claim another medal by winning silver in the men’s freestyle wrestling. India also set a historical milestone for the female athletes who won two Olympic medals. Badminton player and world junior champion Saina Nehwal became the first Indian athlete to win an Olympic bronze medal in the women’s singles. Boxer Mary Kom, on the other hand, lost to Great Britain’s Nicola Adams in the semi-final match, but settled for the bronze in the first ever women’s flyweight championship.