Goodbye 2011. Welcome 2012

Goodbye 2011. Welcome 2012

Mangaloretoday news networks

January 2012: Another New Year has made a grand entry.  It’s welcome 2012 and Good Bye 2011. The New Year has brought along with it myriads of hopes and expectations that it would a good, eventful and a memorable year. While wishing all our readers a Very Very Happy and Prosperous New Year, Mangalore Today presents a quick flashback of the bygone year.

 

The year 2011 was in fact a mixed bag as far as undivided Dakshina Kannada district is concerned.There were welcome developments, news to rejoice as well as issues of concern that needed serious thought. There were controversies, disappointments and surprise developments too.

 

His Beatitude Basaliyos Thomas I, Catholicos of the East, along with four eminent Metropolitans performed the Holy Muroon ceremony of the renovated St Antonies Jacobite syrian church at Jeppu, Mangalore on Sunday, January 31 .

The first month of the year 2011 turned out to be a great disappointer for the Christian populace as well as the discerning public of Dakshina Kannada. Their hopes for justice in the 2008 Church attack case, were dashed. The final report of the Justice Somasekara Commission of Enquiry was a total shock when it gave a clean chit to the Hindu organizations as well as the state government in the church attack case, contradicting it’s own conclusions in the interim report.

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The BJP cadres of the region had something to rejoice when N Yogish Bhat, Mangalore South MLA was elected to the coveted post of the Deputy Speaker of the State Assembly. There was more good news for the BJP which triumphed in the Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat elections too.

 

Mangalore also got a new Mayor and Deputy Mayor in Praveen Kumar  and Geetha Nayak this month.  Then there came a  moment of pride for our district  when Golden Girl Ashwini Akkunji won golds in the Asiad and Commonwealth Games. However, it’s a different matter that she was caught in the dopes scandal and is now facing a one year ban.

The year 2011 was also momentous for Bajpe Airport as it was its diamond jubilee fete. The  year long celebrations were inaugurated by Veerappa Moily, the Union Minister for Corporate Affairs.

 

 

April 2011 brought in some tense moments when there was a conversion clamour again. This time, there were a series of raids on orphanages run by Christian  institutions, this one too on the pretext of conversions.

 

 

The month of May brought back haunting memories of May 22, 2010 Mangalore air crash when the ill-fated Air India Express from Dubai crash landed near the airport killing 158 on board.  The memories of the  worst ever tragedy  of the city, were hard to erase even a year after  when the families of the deceased continue to mourn the deaths of their near and dear ones. During this month the district also had a new Deputy Commissioner in Channappa Gowda who succeeded Subodh Yadav.

 

 

The Bishop’s House in Mangalore too  celebrated a great occasion when the present Bishop Rev Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza completed  15 years in office   as Bishop.

 

 

The Mangalore City Corporation notorious for several of its discrepancies was in the news in the month of June, thanks to its street vendors’ eviction vehicle ‘Civic Tiger.’ There were protests galore against the Civic Tiger operation  for several days to come ultimately forcing the MCC to buckle under pressure and  withdraw the Civic Tiger which virtually terrorized the poor street vendors.

 

 

July turned out to be a great month for the people of Pemude,Kuttettur and Tenka Ekkar in Mangalore taluk. Their nearly two year long struggle seeking denotification of the 2035 acres of land acquired for the second phase of MSEZ finally yielded result following a government notification to denotify their lands. The denotification order came after the Pejawar seer threatened  of  an indefinite fast unless the demand was heeded to. It was also a month that  witnessed political upheavals in the state following the Lokayukta reports on mining scam presented  by the then Lokayukta Justice Santosh hedge.

The  month of August too witnessed some dramatic political developments  resulting in the stepping down of Yeddyurappa  and a man from undivided DK District Sadananda Gowda taking over as the CM. It was also in this month that Justice Santosh Hegde stepped down as the Lokayukta after a very very eventful term  marked by several ups and downs. Not to forget, it was in the month of August that an  anti-corruption wave swept all over the nation when Anna Hazare launched an indefinite fast for a strong Lokpal Bill to  wipe out the menace of corruption from the nation. Mangalore too expressed its solidarity with Anna’s fast. Various protests.

rallies, candle light processions and  hunger strikes were organized in support of Anna. It was during this month that Mangalore for the first time in its history saw the student force in full strength in support of Anna. The DK Anti-Corruption Forum also staged a  day’s hunger strike in solidarity with Anna.

 

October was another month when the Christian community was left shocked following the attacks  on two Christian institutions -St Teresa School,Bendore and Padua School Chapel. Yet another attack was on St Alphonsa Church at Kankanady.  Except for a couple of arrests, the perpetrators of  the attacks are still at large and the motives behind the attacks  not yet clear.

 

 

A controversy over a religious ritual based on certain superstitions hit the headlines in the month of November. It was all over the Made Mada Snana, a roll over ritual in several temples in the state, prominently at the famous Kukke Subrahamanya Temple, when people roll over left-overs after Brahmins have food. This ritual takes place on the occasion of Shashti and hundreds participate. This time  the ritual was permitted despite an earlier ban on the same by the District Administration. The state government seems to have intervened and wanted the practice to continue, despite it being considered  as a mark of supremacy of the so called higher castes over the Dalits. The issue is still raging and a demand to ban this practice, seems to have not fallen to the ‘deaf’ ears of the government.


Even December turned out to be a disturbing month.  Moral policemen or the vigilante group also raised its ugly head at several places bringing in a sense of insecurity among the minority community. The targeting of Christians continued when a Christian house  was raided by fanatic forces on the occasion of Christmas, while a  church at Haleyangady too came under attack.

The year also saw two vernacular language film make waves. If Vijaykumar Kodialbail’s super hit Tulu film ‘ Oriyardori Asal’ crossed the 150th day setting new records, the Konkani film ‘Ujwadu’ by  Kasargod Chinna was also widely appreciated.

 

 

After all the ups and downs, the  year has ended heralding the ushering in of another New Year . Hoping that the New Year would bring Smiles and Cheers on all faces and would be a delightful year for One and All. Happy 2012.