Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who had gone missing in February after his MiG 21 was shot down by the Pakistani rangers, was given a hero's welcome on March 1. He was brought in a convoy comprising vehicles of the Pakistani government officials from Lahore. He was then kept under medical observation, given counselling and debriefed by the air force. Source said he told the top brass of Indian Air Force that he was subjected to mental harassment, though he was not physically tortured by Pakistan authorities. Abhinandan was awarded the Vir Chakra during the Independence Day celebration. Air Force officials said on August 22 that he resumed his flying operations.
Armed attacks on two Christchurch mosques left at least 50 dead on March 14. According to reports, one gunman -- identified as an Australian extremist live-streamed the assault that triggered the lockdown of the New Zealand city. According to the Indian High Commission, five Indians were among the dead.The attacker, identified by authorities as Australia-born Brenton Tarrant, 28, reportedly targeted immigrants during the prayers. Witnesses said victims were shot at close range. In the wake of the attacks, the country mplemented an immediate ban on the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatics across the country.
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun was finally coronated on May 4, after ascending the throne two years ago following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in a $31 million three-day celebration that comes almost 69 years since the last coronation. The king had announced ahead of the coronation that he had married his bodyguard, General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, who became his fourth wife.
Jet Airways temporarily grounded its operations on April 17 after suffering massive financial losses to an extent that the airline did not have the funds for fuel or other critical services to keep the operations going. With many unpaid employees and the company up for bidding, it failed to attract any new bidders.
Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange was arrested after seven years in Ecuador's embassy in London on April 11. The 47-year-old faces allegations that he publicly released secret documents relating to the US. He had been in the embassy in London since 2012. Assange had originally sought asylum at the embassy after Swedish authorities wanted to quiz him over allegations of sexual assault and rape. He was also sentenced to 50 weeks in jail in May by a UK court for breaching his bail conditions.
Seven suicide bombers carried out multiple blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday on April 21, killing 321 people in the country's worst terror attack. The series of bomb blasts, that targeted Easter worshippers and high-end hotels popular with international guests, killed over 290 people and injured more than 500 others. Forty suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers, were arrested in connection with the attacks.
Mathematician Anand Kumar who has been running a highly innovative Super 30 programme for the last 18 years to mentor 30 students free off cost through year-long residential coaching for India's premiere IIT-JEE, was felicitated with the Education Excellence Award 2019 by the Foundation For Excellence (FFE) at a function in San Jose, California. A biopic was also on Kumar released with actor Hrithik Roshan playing him on screen.
India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 aimed at landing a rover on unchartered Lunar South Pole was launched on July 22 onboard the country's most powerful geosynchronous launch vehicle from the spaceport in Sriharikota. The vehicle, also known as Vikram lander was scheduled to land on the lunar surface on September 7, but went missing, leading to a series of speculations of it being crash-landed. On December 3, NASA found the debris of Vikram Lander of Chandrayaan-2 and released images of its impact site on the Moon, where the spacecraft had lost communication moments before making a soft landing on the far side of the lunar surface.
Chairman and managing director of the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) group, VG Siddhartha was found dead on the morning of July 31, 2019. His body was recovered from the Netravati river after 36 hours of an intense search operation.He was the son-in-law of senior BJP leader, S.M. Krishna, who previously served as the Chief Minister of Karnataka and was Minister of External Affairs in the UPA-2 government.
The Centre on August 5 scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution that gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh that came into effect from October 31. The move saw a shutdown in the state with a communication ban in place for two months.
Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray made his electoral debut this year by contesting the Worli assembly constituency in state assembly elections in October and emerged victorious after beating his rival Suresh Mane of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by a margin of 67,427 votes.Aaditya bagged a total of 89,248 votes (or 69.14%) of the total 1,29,074 votes cast in Worli.
Indian American economist Abhijit Banerjee was named the winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, alongside his French-American wife Esther Duflo and colleague Michael Kremer on October 14 for their work to alleviate global poverty. They received the award in a ceremony held at the Stockholm Concert Hall on December 10, where Banerjee was seen wearing a bandagala and white- and-gold dhoti and Duflo wore a green sari.
The ongoing Rs 4,355-crore Punjab-Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) bank fraud left many people in a lurch, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed directions on the bank on September 23, and account holders could not withdraw their money. As many as seven depositors died by either committing suicide, cardiac or delay in treatment due to lack of funds. The scam unfolded after the bank's former MD Joy Thomas and chairman Waryam Singh were taken into custody by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), unearthing its nexus with the real estate development company HDIL.
With a net worth of USD 60 billion, Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani was ranked the 9th richest person globally, according to 'The Real-Time Billionaires List' of Forbes in November. He also became the first Indian company to hit the Rs 10 lakh crore market valuation mark following a spike in its share price.
After a long-standing political drama in Maharashtra after the state assembly elections were declared on October 24 that led to long-time allies BJP and Shiv Sena part ways and latter form an alliance with Congress and NCP, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was made the Chief minister. He took oath on November 27 in an extravagant ceremony held in Shivaji Park with many Congress, NCP leaders in attendance.
Sri Lanka's controversial wartime defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected the president after ruling party candidate Sajith Premadasa conceded the hotly contested presidential poll. Rajapaksa defeated Premadasa by more than 13 lakh votes, according to the official results. He will succeed President Maithripala Sirisena for a five-year term. On November 21, he appointed his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa as the prime minister of Sri Lanka as then-incumbent leader Ranil Wickramasinghe chose to step down.
Sub-lieutenant Shivangi got her qualification wings on December 2, which made her the first woman pilot in the Indian Navy. On completing her operational training, Shivangi made history by becoming the first pilot among women naval officers.
South Africa's Zozibini Tunzi was crowned Miss Universe 2019 in a televised event in Atlanta on December 8.The South African contestant beats Puerto Rico's Madison Anderson and Mexico's Sofia Aragon, who settled for first runner up and second runner up titles respectively. Tunzi was crowned by her predecessor Catriona Gray of Philippines.
Finland's parliament chose Sanna Marin as the country's new prime minister, making the 34-year-old the world's youngest sitting head of government on December 10. Marin is heading a five-party, center-left coalition. The four other parties in the coalition are headed by women.
Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg was named Time Magazine's person of the year 2019 on December 11, becoming the youngest person ever to be the recipient of the title. Her speech at the Climate Action Summit where she called out the world leaders for neglecting the pressing issue of climate change struck a chord with many. The teen activist first rose to prominence in 2018 when she began protesting outside the Swedish Parliament under the campaign "School Strike for Climate."
ADVERTISEMENT
