Many would argue that 2008 was, in the words of the Queen of England who was talking about another year, an annus horribilis. On a global scale, few years since 1991 could be considered so important; and few since the ’70s could be considered as devastating. 2001 saw terrorist attacks, 2003 a war in West Asia; but 2008 saw both, and in the last few weeks of the year. And the year was devastating not only in real terms, but at the level of commentary, of public discourse. As our columnist today points out, some orthodoxies have been overturned and some shibboleths broken. The global financial crisis has brought humility to some and empowered others — those who have been pessimistic about finance, about globalisation, about all that makes the modern world modern. But, in India at least, there is little room for such pessimism — it is completely misplaced. However troubled the world’s response to the crisis and however deep the depression into which the rest of the world is plunged, one thing is almost certain: India will be less harmed by it than other places. The opportunity has now arisen to demonstrate that the Indian growth story is not an artefact of good times; it is something that can survive bad times as well — and not only survive, but do better than the competition.

And just as India’s economic vitality has shown, and should continue to show, signs of resilience, India’s political vibrancy has demonstrated, and will go on demonstrating, its robustness. This has been a year in which elections everywhere have shown that working democracies can deliver change, or at least can work as vehicles for delivering aspirations for change. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama showed that in America. In our neighbourhood, the year began with elections ending military rule in Pakistan, and closed with elections ending military rule in Bangladesh — those last with a turnout of over 80 per cent, in a rebuke to those who would condemn politics as unconnected to ordinary people. Similarly, in our own democracy, state assembly elections towards the end of the year showed record turnouts, and so did the free, fair, and epochal elections in troubled Jammu and Kashmir.

... contd.