One thing can be said that the year 2021 was much better than 2020, but in 2021, there were many incidents that will remain with us for a lifetime. In the last 12 months, a lot of things happened in this whole world. Let us know about 21 of them…

1. Farmers' march against the three new agricultural laws

In November of last year itself, the farmers' struggle against the three new agricultural laws started from the soil of Punjab. Later, farmers camped on the Singhu and Tikri borders of Delhi. Between winter and summer for a year, the farmers remained adamant on the demand to roll back all the three agricultural laws. On January 26, 2021, farmers took out the tractor march in the capital. During this tractor march, clashes between farmers and police were also seen at many places in Delhi. At the same time, a large number of farmers reached the Red Fort in Delhi and waved the religious flag there. After this incident, the police registered a case and arrested many people.

On Gurpurab on 19th November, PM Modi announced the withdrawal of all three new agricultural laws.

2. US President Joe Biden

This event is considered to be the most recognized and the most prominent event of this year. Joe Biden has repeatedly given the slogan 'America is Back' in 2021. Joe Biden, who has been active in American politics for nearly five decades, has made history by traversing an illustrious journey from being the youngest senator to the oldest US president. Biden, 77, became the president of the country by defeating outgoing US President Donald Trump. It is not that he has achieved this success in his first attempt. Biden was unsuccessful in the presidential race in 1988 and 2008.

3. Taliban captured Afghanistan

The Taliban returned to Afghanistan on 15 August this year. From the first week of August, the number of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan started increasing. The Taliban began to capture provinces such as Kandahar, and on 15 August the Taliban captured the capital, Kabul. Taliban fighters took down the Afghan flag from President's House and put up their flag. Before this, the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan in 2001. More than 2,500 US service members and 4,000 US civilian contractors were killed in Afghanistan. The number of Afghans who lost their lives is expected to exceed 170,000.

4. Attack on democracy around the world

The year 2021 will also be seen as an attempt to undermine the democratic systems existing around the world. Talking about the United States of America, this country, which claims to be the healthiest democracy, faced violent rebellion this time in contrast to the peaceful change of power for the first time in its history. There were efforts in the many Red States to restrict voting rights and give legislatures the right to overturn election results, which in itself was unthinkable. All this gave the United States the name "backsliding democracy".

Similarly, the Indian government was also criticized worldwide for trying to weaken the democratic systems. Freedom House in 2021 marked India from "free" to "partly free" and reporters without borders as "one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists trying to do their job".

5. Covid-19 vaccine

For the world that has been hit by the novel coronavirus worldwide in 2020, this year brought some relief when the vaccine for this disease made its appearance. But the speed at which vaccines for COVID-19 were developed was astonishing. Vaccines for diseases such as smallpox, polio, and measles, mumps, and rubella that have been made so far usually take ten to fifteen years to develop. Of these, the mumps vaccine was developed the fastest. But the vaccines for COVID-19 were ready in less than a year. Not only this, but initially these vaccines also gave surprisingly correct results.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have claimed that their vaccines are more than 90 percent effective against early COVID-19 variants. More than 7.4 billion vaccine doses were delivered in 184 countries in the first eleven months of 2021, with seventy countries donating. However, the delta variant, which was first identified in India in December 2020, was more contagious than its predecessors and soon became a cause of major concern across the world. In November 2021, South African scientists identified the Omicron variant. Within weeks it has been detected worldwide.

6. Gold for India in Tokyo Olympics

There was good news for India in this year's Tokyo Olympics. Indian players won 7 medals in the Tokyo Olympics held in July-August. In which Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal for India in Javelin Throw. At the same time, the Indian men's hockey team won a medal in hockey after 41 years. It was nothing less than a celebration for India.

7. World's largest iceberg broke apart

In May 2021, the world's largest iceberg broke away from the Antarctic and broke away in the Weddell Sea, and its name is A-76.

According to the US National Ice Center, slightly larger than the Spanish island of Majorca, A-76 had been monitored by scientists since May 13, when it began to separate from the Ronne Ice Shelf.

The 4,320 sq km iceberg, about 170 km long and 25 km wide, now floats in the Weddell Sea.

8. Tauktae storm took the lives of about 200 people

In the year 2021, this cyclone had taken 6 lives before reaching the coasts of Gujarat on 17 May. This cyclone had wreaked havoc till the Arabian Sea. 109 other people died due to this cyclone. It was later revealed that 86 and Logan aboard the tugboat and millet died of drowning after being hit by the storm.

9. Kamala Harris of the Indian Origin becomes the World’s Powerful Lady

President Joe Biden temporarily transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris on 19, November 2021, after he went under anesthesia for a routine check-up for an hour and 85 minutes. America's power remained with Vice President Kamala Harris for some time. President Joe Biden was on anesthesia late on 19 November 2021, for the annual colonoscopy. White House Press Secretary Jane Pasky said Harris worked from his West Wing office while Biden was under anesthesia.

10. 2021 DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians

Neena Gupta is a professor and mathematician. She works at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata. She has been awarded the 2021 DST-ICTP-IMU Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians from developing countries for her outstanding work in affine algebraic geometry and commutative algebra. Neena is the fourth Indian mathematician to receive the prestigious award.

11. Indian CEOs

2021 was kinda good for the business people from India as two big platforms made Indian-origin people their CEOs. On 29 November 2021, Parag Agrawal became the CEO of Twitter and on 16 December 2021, Leena Nair became the CEO of French luxury fashion house Chanel.

Apart from this, Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon's CEO.

12. Dilip Kumar's death

India woke up to some sad news with the death of legendary actor Dilip Kumar on 7 July 2021. The veteran actor was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) on June 29, after reportedly complaining of breathlessness. Big personalities like PM Narendra Modi and SRK paid tribute to him. Saira Banu was Dilip's second wife. Dilip's contribution to the field of cinema is uncountable. Dilip Kumar has won a total of 14 awards in his career in Bollywood.

13. Air India returns to Tata after 70 years

Tata Sons won the Air India bid, the airline it founded nearly 90 years back - as the government accepted its winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore to acquire 100 percent of the debt-laden state-run carrier. The deal completed a full circle as Air India was founded in 1932 under the name Tata Airlines by family scion and aviation enthusiast Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata.

14. Climate change

"Red Code for Humanity." This is how UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described a UN report released in August which concluded that humanity faces catastrophic climate change unless emissions of heat-trapping gases are reduced. But one doesn't need to read the 4,000-page report to know that. Extreme weather dominated the news in 2021, as has been the case over the past decade. Record drought devastated the American Southwest. Record floods devastated Belgium and West Germany. Epic wildfires ripped through Greece.

Late monsoon ravaged India and Nepal. Climate optimists can find some development to be happy about in 2021. President Biden committed the United States to re-joining the Paris climate accord on his first day in office. China agreed in September to stop funding coal-fired power plants overseas, and Iceland opened a facility to take carbon dioxide out of the air. At the COP-26 meeting in Glasgow in November, countries pledged to take steps to address climate change, including cutting methane emissions. But promises are not achievements.

Carbon emissions jumped in 2021 as the global economy revived.

15. India won 41 medals in Asian Youth Para Games 2021

India has made history by winning 41 medals (12 gold, 15 silver, 14 bronze) in the 4th Asian Youth Para Games. This biggest event in Asia was held in Bahrain Riffa city. It is organized by the National Paralympic Committee of Bahrain in collaboration with the local government. More than 700 athletes from around 30 countries participated in the event from 2 to 6 December 2021. The 5th edition of the Asian Youth Para Games 2025 will be hosted by Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

16. Pandora paper leak

In October itself, the Pandora Papers leak surprised people. The scam revealed the names of hundreds of politicians and well-known personalities from 90 countries, who used secret companies to hide their wealth. This disclosure was big for India because the name of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar had also appeared in the Pandora paper leak. The names of 300 Indians appeared on this list. The Pandora Papers leak includes 6.4 million documents, almost three million images, more than a million emails, and almost half a million spreadsheets.

17. Action against drugs in Mumbai

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) became active against drugs after the mysterious suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in Mumbai. On 2 October 2021, NCB raided Cordelia Cruise, which was going from Mumbai to Goa. In this raid, NCB seized 13 gms of cocaine, 5 grams mephedrone, 21 grams charas, and 22 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy.

NCB also arrested Son of megastar Shah Rukh Khan, Aryan Khan along with his friends Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha. The high court granted Aryan, his friend Arbaaz Merchant and model Munmun Dhamecha bail on October 28, stipulating a personal bond of ₹1 lakh each with sureties of the same amount.

18. India's daughter won the title of Miss Universe after 21 years

After Sushmita Sen and Lara Dutta, another daughter of India got the title of Miss Universe 2021. After 21 years, Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu of Chandigarh gave this happiness to the country. She is the third woman from India to have received this title.

19. CDS Bipin Rawat dies in a helicopter crash

The country's first Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, and his wife Madhulika Rawat have died in a helicopter crash on 08 December 2021. Along with them, 13 other people also died. Which includes a Brigadia, a Lieutenant Colonel, and Wing Commander. The incident happened in Kannur, Tamil Nadu. The plane had flown from Sulur to Wellington and crashed shortly afterward.

20. Legal marriage age for girls in India

The government has taken steps to increase the legal age of marriage for girls in the country this year only. In a cabinet meeting, the Modi government approved a proposal to raise the legal age of marriage for women to 21 years. The legal age of marriage for men in the country is 21 years. Earlier the legal age for girls in India was 18.

21. Movie of the year 2021

'Spider-Man: No Way Home' was released on 16 December 2021. The film will be released in Indian theatres in four languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. This film became the highest-grossing film with a total earning of $1,057,456,855 worldwide in the years 2020 and 2021. The film was released in 2D, IMAX 2D, 3D, IMAX 3D, 3D Screen X, and 4DX 3D formats.

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