An year of political stability says goodbye

New Delhi, Dec 29: The serial bomb blasts in suburban trains in Mumbai resulting in the death of hundreds of people shocked the human conscience as terrorism raised its ugly head again in India in 2006.

The national political scene remained stable during the year, though several States witnessed change of Governments after Assembly elections.Jharkhand and Karnataka also witnessed change of guards.

The life term sentence awarded to Shibu Soren in a murder case was the first to a Union Cabinet Minister in independent India.He had resigned from the Cabinet soon after the conviction.

The appointment of Mr Justice K G Balakrishnan as next Chief Justice of India was a landmark, he being the first dalit to be elevated to this post.

Following the trend of name changes, Assam became Asom and Pondicherry became Puducherry during the year.

Several world leaders arrived in India for discussions and negotiations. They included U S President George W Bush,French President Jacques Chirac and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The nation witnessed the passing away of many veterans like Ustad Bismillah Khan, actors Raj Kumar and Nadira, political heavy weights like A B A Ghani Khan Choudhary, Pramod Mahajan, Bansi Lal, Kanshi Ram, Anil Biswas, Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, writer Manohar Shyam Joshi, film producer N N Sippy, music composer Naushad Ali, film maker Hrishikesh Mukherji and cricketer Polly Umrigar.

Following is a diary of important national events of 2006: January 2: Rajnath Singh assumes charge as BJP President;12 tribals and one policeman killed in a clash in Kalinganagar, Orissa;3:Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calls for a second Green Revolution; 6: India and Pakistan agree to resume Munnabao-Khokrapar rail service from February one;Indian Navy inducts Unmanned Aerial Vehicles; 7:Prime Minister launches Overseas Citizenship of India scheme;9: Arundhati Roy chosen for Sahitya Akademi award in English;10:Government notifies EPF interest rate for current fiscal at 8.5 per cent; 12: Vishwapati Trivedi to be new CMD for Indian(Airlines);16: Prime Minister announces Central investment of Rs 6000 crore in Asom; 17: Mumbai special court sentences Abdul Karim Telgi to ten years'imprisonment in the stamp paper case; 18: Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries agree to continue sustained dialogue on Jammu and Kashmir;21: Controversial MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh is reinducted into UP Cabinet; 22:82nd plenary of AICC begins at Rajiv Nagar in Hyderabad; 23:Shabana Azmi selected for CRYSTAL award of World Economic Forum; 24:Supreme Court says Bihar Governor Buta Singh's dissolution of State Assembly last year was hasty, drastic and extreme; Prime Minister receives Saudi King at Delhi airport; 25: Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Nirmala Deshpande and Mahasweta Devi are among 9 conferred with Padma Vibhushan; 26: Bihar Governor Buta Singh resigns; 27: President appoints West Bengal Governor Gopalakrishna Gandhi as Bihar Governor also;28:Dharam Singh resigns as Karnataka Chief Minister; Sardar Malik is dead; 29:UPA Cabinet expanded;31: Union Government and Naga rebels of NSCN(IM) agree to extend ceasefire in Nagaland by six months.

February 2: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launch rural jobs scheme; 3:Janata Dal(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy sworn in as Karnataka Chief Minister; 6: Sukhdeo Thorat appointed UGC Chairman; 8:Samajwadi Party suspends Raj Babbar from primary membership of Party; 9:Actress Nadira passes away; 16: Shyam Benegal, Kapila Vatsyayan and Shobana Bhartiya nominated to Rajya Sabha; 18:Rail link between India and Pakistan restored; 19 French President Jacques Chirac arrives in Delhi; 27: Assam changes its name to Asom; 28: Mulayam Singh Yadav wins trust vote in U P Assembly.

March 1: U S President George Bush arrives in Delhi;3: U C Banerjee Committee says Godhra train fire was accidental; 5: Australian Prime Minister John Howard arrives in Delhi; 7:Three bomb explosions in Varanasi kill 21 and injure 62; 8: Former Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray launches Maharashtra Navnirman Sena; 14: Russia agrees to supply nuclear fuel for Tarapur Atomic Power Plant; 17: Jaya Bachchan disqualified of Rajya Sabha membership;20: Former Assam Minister Bhrigu Kumar Phukan dies in Delhi;Verghese Kurien quits as Chairman, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation; 23: Congress President Sonia Gandhi resigns from Lok Sabha and as Chairperson of National Advisory Council; Dr Karan Singh resigns from Rajya Sabha; Liberhan Commission's term extended upto June 30; 24: Prime Minister flags off Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus; 25: Anil Ambani resigns from Rajya Sabha; 26: CPI-M leader Anil Biswas is dead; 28: Congress leader Bansi Lal dies; 30: Writer Manohar Shyam Joshi is dead.

April 3:First phase of Assembly elections in Asom;in Rajya Sabha, 17 members sworn in;8:Sonia Gandhi resigns as Chairperson of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation; 9:Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrives in New Delhi; 10: At least 50 people killed and over 100 injured in a fire accident in Meerut;Film actor Salman Khan is sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment in a hunting case in Rajasthan; 11: Sharad Yadav is elected Janata Dal(U) President;12:Kannada film hero Rajkumar is dead; 14: Veteran Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury passes away;17: First phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal; Dr Verghese Kurien appointed Chancellor of Allahabad University; 18: RBI announces Credit Policy 2006-07;Famous folk singer Vindhyavasini Devi is dead;21: Government declares Students Islamic Movement of India(SIMI) unlawful association; 22:BJP General Secretary Promod Mahajan is shot at; First round of assembly elections in Kerala; 23: V P Singh launches new political outfit called Jan Morcha;27: In Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is elected to Assembly;30:Uma Bharti launches her Party Bharatiya Janshakti Party.

May 1: Atleast 35 villagers killed in two communal clashes in Jammu and Kashmir;3: Pramod Mahajan succumbs to injuries;4:CBI raids 24 places of Om Prakash Chautala;5:Legendary film music composer Naushad Ali is dead; 7:Scientist Amulya K N Reddy passes away; 11:UPA alliance led by DMK wins majority in Tamil Nadu Assembly;LDF wins majority in Kerala Assembly; Congress wins Asom Assembly elections; Sonia Gandhi wins Rae Bareli Lok Sabha by-election; 12:Sea version of pilotless target aircraft Lakshya tested fired;13: M Karunanidhi sworn in as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister;Tarun Gogoi sworn in as Assam Chief Minister; 17:BJP leader Babulal Marandi resigns from Party and Lok Sabha;M K Mukherjee Commission of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose submits report;18: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sworn in as West Bengal Chief Minister; V S Achuthanandan sworn in as Kerala Chief Minister;21: Seven people killed and 35 injured in a terrorist attack in Srinagar; 26:Union Cabinet approves a proposal to change Pondicherry into Puducherry.

June 1:Three terrorists shot dead outside RSS office in Nagpur;8: APJ Abdul Kalam becomes first President to undertake a 30-minute sortie in Sukhoi-30; 11:P Sainath of The Hindu wins Judges Prize; Lyricist Gulzar is conferred Shiromani Samman; 14: Kuwait's Emir arrives in New Delhi;15: J D Rymbai of Congress sworn in as Meghalaya Chief Minister; R S Gavai appointed Bihar Governor; 20: Sonia Gandhi flags off fourth bus service between India and Pakistan; 24:Justice K Narayana Kurup is nominated as Global Ambassador of Peace by World Trade Centres Association;25: Sheikh Hasina Wazed conferred Mother Teresa Award in New Delhi; 29: S Y Quraishi is appointed Election Commissioner.

July 6:Nathu La Pass opens; 10:GSLV-F02 fails; More than 180 killed and over 800 injured in serial bomb blasts in Mumbai suburban trains; 18: India sends four naval ships to Lebanon for evacuating Indins following Israeli attack; 22: Nirmala Deshpande chosen for Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award; 23: Short-range surface-to-air missile Trishul test fired; in a unique Army operation, a five year old child, Prince, rescued from a deep pit in Kurukshetra;31:Arvind Kejriwal selected for Magsaysay Award.

August 7:Justice R S Pathak Inquiry Committee's report on Iraqi oil deal and Natwar Singh tabled in Parliament; Army is called in for rescue operations in flood affected Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and other States;8: Congress suspends K Natwar Singh from Party;12:National Security Advisory Board reconstituted with M K Rasgotra as convenor;19: Thar Express flagged off; 20:N R Narayan Murthy retires from executive post as Chairman Infosys; M S Swaminathan receives Bharat Ratna Rajiv Gandhi Outstanding Leadership Award;Ustad Bismillah Khan is dead; 22: Telengana Rashtra Samiti President K Chandrasekhara Rao and Party leader A Narendra resign from Union Concil of Ministers; 24: Union Cabinet approves Uttaranchal Government's request to rename State as Uttarakhand;Lok Sabha passes Bill to rename Pondicherry as Puducherry;27: Noted filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukehrjee is dead; 31:Shivshankar Menon appointed Foreign Secretary.

September 1: Vice Admiral Suresh Mehta is appointed next Chief of Naval Staff; 2: Sixth Pay Commission constituted with Justice B N Srikrishna as Chairman; Pratyush Sinha to be next Central Vigilance Commissioner;7:A partial lunar eclipse witnessed in India; 8:More than 30 people killed and many injured in three bomb blasts in Malegaon in Maharashtra; 9: Election Commission rejects complaints against 12 MPs including Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on holding 'office of profit'; Shabana Azmi chosen for Gandhi International Peace prize; 13: Javed Akhtar is selected for Indira Gandhi Award for national Integration; 14:Arjun Munda led NDA Government in Jharkhand falls;18: Madhu Koda is sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Minister.

October 3: Sashi Tharoor bows out of U N Secretary General race;4: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav flags off Garibi Rath;9:BSP founder Kanshi Ram is dead; 10: Kiran Desai wins Booker Prize; 13: Planning Commission finalises approach paper to 11th Plan;15: Dengue death toll in India crosses 100 mark. November 3: CBI begins probe into charges against Najma Heptullah when she was Chairperson of Indian Council for Cultural Relations;5: Gujarat starts evening courts; 7:Film producer N N sippy is dead; former Indian cricket captain Polly Umrigar passes away;9:Freedom fighters pension enhanced; Mohammed Afzal Guru appeals to President for mercy;14: India asserts that Arunachal Pradesh is part of India;16: Union Cabinet decides to increase Haj pilgrim quota by 10,000; 19: Prithvi-III test fired; naval officer Vijay Shankar selected to head Strategic Forces Command on nuclear delivery assets;20: Chinese President Hu Jintao arrives in New Delhi;22:Parliament pays homage to BSP founder Kanshi Ram;23: 37th International Film Festival of India begins in Goa; 26:Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa opens Asian Mayors Conference in Dehradun; 26: Rajnath Singh is re-elected BJP President; 28: Union Coal Minister Shibu Soren held guilty of murder by a special court, resigns from Cabinet; 29: Petrol and diesel prices reduced; Outlook Sapthahik editor Alok Mehta is elected President, Editors Guild of India;30: Rajender Sachar Committee report on status of Muslims tabled in Lok Sabha.

December 1: Punjab and Haryana High Court convicts BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu of causing death of a person in 1988; 2:Atleast 37 passengers including 15 women and two children killed and over 50 injured in an overbridge collapse in Bhagalpur in Bihar;3:Chinese film The Old Barber wins Golden Peacock Award at at Goa International Film Festival of India;4:One hundred of the 123 accused in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case convicted on various counts;6: A Delhi court awards life imprisonment to Shibu Soren in a murder case; Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark stock index Sensex hits 14,000 for first time; 6:Supreme Court says public servants can be prosecuted without Government sanction; Punjab and Haryana High Court awards three years imprisonment to Navjot Singh Sidhu;7:Congress wins five of 11 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats in December four by-elections; M G Ramachandran's statue unveiled in Parliament;8: Murasoli Maran's statue unveiled in Parliament; 9:NDC approves approach paper for 11th Plan; 10 Lage Raho Munnabhai bags Best Film award at second Gloabl Indian Film Awards in Kuala Lumpur;13:Mohammed Afzal Guru files curative petition in Supreme Court seeking reconsideration of his death sentence;14: Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh is appointed Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar;15:Former Assistant Commissioner of Delhi Police R P Tyagi gets capital punishment;18:Manu Sharma convicted in Jessica Lall murder case; CBI court acquits Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi in a 1998 disproportionate asset case; Bhaskaracharya Tripathi gets 15th Vachaspathi Puraskar; 20:Manu Sharma gets life term in Jessica Lall murder case;21:Justice K G Balakrishnan to be next Chief Justice of India, first dalit to reach this post; 22: JD(S) National Exeutive removes H D Deve Gowda as Party President, elects Surendra Mohan instead; 25:Deve Gowda suspends Surendra Mohan, M P Veerendra Kumar and PGR Scindia from Party; 28: President expresses concern to Prime Minister over health of Mamta Banerjee. Later she calls of her fast.

UNI