WHAT'S IN FEBRUARY 2022?

 

The month of February 2022 with 28 days, started on Tuesday with the presentation of the annual Budget 2022 – 2023 by the Finance Minister of India, Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman for 1h 30min in the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha). The presentation went on smoothly without disturbance by the opposition parties. The speaker was very happy like the public who watched the programme on all TV channels. Most of the salaried people and pensioners expected some monetary relief. But unfortunately, they were disappointed. The presentation was followed by discussions by businessmen and economists on every TV channel. They gave their views on the positivity and negativity of the Budget. As usual, the opposition party people criticized the budget saying that there was nothing special in this year’s budget. On the other hand, the ruling party appreciated the Finance Minister for an innovative modern Budget. However, I found that it is a usual ritual every year we hear. Finally, the Budget was presented and introduced for the parliamentarians’ comments and finally the Finance Minister’s reply.

The second important event to take place in February 2022 is the Winter Olympic Games 2022. These games are going to be held in Beijing, China from 4 February to 20 February 2022. China has come forward to host these games in spite of the coronavirus pandemic around the world as well as in China. How the Olympic Games are going to be? We have to wait and see. The players have to be protected from the pandemic and also the spectators who travel from various countries and the various parts of China to watch and enjoy the winter games. Certainly, we are about to witness the games in the Sports Channels of our TV and other devices. Let us hope that the games be successful as planned. Last year Japan conducted the Olympic games Tokyo 2021 successfully. I  don’t know how many Indian Sportspersons will win Gold, Silver or Bronze medals? Let us expect Indians to bring home some of these medals to make us happy.

The third much-awaited activity is the local body elections in Tamil Nadu and the Assembly elections of five Indian states namely, Goa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur. Again these elections will happen in the background of the pandemic crisis. The Election Commission has wisely prevented big rallies by political parties. How far do the parties follow the Election Commission’s orders? One has to wait and see!

In Tamil Nadu, local heroes belonging to different political parties have come forward to file their nominations. People who want personal benefits are after these candidates belonging to various political parties fight each other to get the valuable votes. Money power and muscle power are used at different levels to get votes. Poor people look for money whereas rich people expect long term benefits from the candidates. In a democracy, elections are a must for a stipulated time period. So people know how to manipulate such elections and get personal advantages. The only thing the local body election can help the people to get better roads, drinking water and removal of daily trashes to keep the locality clean. Apart from that, all other activities are not beneficial to the common voters. The local body candidates gain experience to move on the party ladder to become MLAs and later on ministers. A kind of political life for which we the common people are not used to.

Thus February 2022 is expected to be a busy month for most of us. For me, spending time would be easy and learning from these activities and enjoy. I hope the pandemic permits all these activities to happen smoothly, peacefully and successfully. - NARA