The year 2020 was a year when everything that could go wrong went wrong in various public policy areas public health, the economy, national security, Hindu-Muslim relations, agricultural reforms. Yet, at the end of 12 melancholy months, there were some positive signs.

The government paints a positive picture of the Covid crisis whereas its handling of the pandemic was disastrous, especially its callousness towards migrant workers. Any numbers this government publishes are suspect after its reconfiguring the national accounts and employment figures. Johns Hopkins University data shows that Indias coronavirus mortality rate was the second highest in Asia excluding the Mideast at 11 per 1,00,000 infections. By contrast, Bangladesh and Pakistan scored 4.5 deaths per 1,00,000.

The economy was in trouble even before the pandemic. It has steadily worsened. Indias GDP in 2020 will decrease by nearly 10%. Except for the Maldives, India did worse than any other South Asian country in terms of GDP growth. Bangladesh and Bhutan managed to register growth rates of 2% and 1.5%, respectively. Pakistan contracted by 1.5%, war-torn Afghanistan by 5.5%, Sri Lanka by 6.7% but Indian growth declined by a whopping 9.6%. The sting in the tail: Bangladeshs per capita income was projected to surpass Indias.

In May, we woke up to Chinese troop incursions in Ladakh. This followed border crises with China in almost every year the Modi government has been in power: 2014 (Chumar), 2015 (Burtse), 2017 (Doklam), and 2020 (Galwan, Pangong, Depsang etc.). Experts have concluded that in 2020 intelligence failed to pick up Chinese military activity and the army reacted too slowly. A series of gaffes followed. The army at first thought the incursions were minor and routine. The prime minister claimed publicly there were no incursions. The foreign and defence ministries thought there were serious incursions. And the blundering Chief of Defence Staff insisted we could fight on two fronts, when our supplies are barely enough to cover two weeks of fighting any single adversary.

The UP governments love jihad legislation, which gives the state the right to determine if Hindu women and Muslim men can marry, is taking India from soft fascism to outright fascism. Other Indian states are lining up to emulate UP. This is an India that looks more like apartheid South Africa, pre-civil rights America, and eugenics minded Nazi Germany. Why the courts have not acted to strike down what is almost certainly unconstitutional is baffling actually, given the recent record of the courts, not so baffling.

The agricultural reforms are just the last in a series of governance howlers. Economists and other experts are divided but feel there is policy sense in the legislation. However, a key problem remains unaddressed. How can most farmers find buyers in a freer market, transport their produce to distant mandis, and deal with the vagaries of pricing given the backwardness of the sector and the differences between states? MSP is simply not enough to deal with farmers concerns.

Despite the governments chaotic responses and policies, there are bits of reassuring news. Covid vaccines are being rolled out. Many migrants have made their way back to original points of employment and are being better cared for by employers. Economists are saying that green shoots are visible in the economy. The World Bank projects GDP growth at 8% next year. The Ladakh situation seems to have stabilised even if India has not got its territories back. Some targets of love jihad have fought back publicly. And the government has engaged the farmers somewhat better since the protests.

A lot was lost this year, including lives and freedoms, but all was not lost. There is little hope of the Modi government improving much, but you cannot but be hopeful given the fundamental decency and optimism of most ordinary Indians.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Year things went wrong: However, there are some positive signs as 2020 approaches its end - The Times of India Blog