Within 24 hours all of us will leave behind 2010 & will enter into 2011. End of 2010 is not just the end of a year but it’s actually end of a decade - The first decade of 21st century. The decade is carrying along with it uncountable events and it’s time to take a summary note of them along with getting ready with a clean slate for Second decade...
2001-2010
The decade is taking along with it numerous memories, some sweet and some bitter - 
Terrorism – USA tasted the horror of this word on September 11th, but we Indians are quite familiar with it. Just as the first year of the decade (2001) was moving towards its end, an unprecedented event happened – A Terrorist Attack, well now as I said it was not new for us, but this time target was one of the safest place in our country –Parliament.
Throughout the decade our news channels and news papers kept on carrying the headlines and pictures of bloodshed. Numerous blasts ranging from Assam to delhi to Jaipur to Mumbai to Hyderabad to Varanasi to…….Samjhauta Express, the list is never ending; and Not forgetting the biggest one Nov 2008 Mumbai Attacks. We were targeted at every place buses, trains, markets, hotels, religious places…
If these external threats were not sufficient, the internal ones covered up for them. Naxalites though quite active since long time, but this time quite in different manner. 2010 is quite historic in terms of naxal violence. Whether it was Dantewada or Train derailment, we just kept on counting the number of dead bodies.
And we must not forget the biggest black spot Godhra Riots. I won’t waste much space on highlighting this national shame.
“Scam, Scandal & Corruption” - The words have silently became destiny of every Indian and the decade was no exception. Politicians, Bureaucrats, Govt. officers, our own class of professionals, doctors, army, Judiciary, Businessmen, Corporates …well I am really sorry if I forgot to kept any class in this privileged category, you can add it on your own.
It began right from the first year (2001) Just the name changed and this time it was Ketan Parekh. The list kept on going and by the time the decade ended I think we Indians outplayed every other nation in this field. Swiss Bank A/c, Satyam Scandal, Commonwealth Scam, Adarsh Society, 2G Spectrum, Housing Society Scam and as we Indians have quite poor memory, we were offered another small one right at the end of Dec 2010 so as keep it fresh –the City Bank Scam. And although i am a CA student i would better leave the task of estimating the amounts of these scams.
Here i would pay my tribute to those who tried to wake up our conscience by fighting single handedly against this cancerous corruption. Sh. Amit Jethwa, Satish Shetty, Manjunath, Styendra Kumar Dubey etc. They were made silent, but their sacrifice will hopefully inspire many more in coming decade.
Natural Furies – Mother Nature was not far behind. Whatever we have done to her, she is quite justifying in returning us with Gujarat Earthquake, Cyclones, Tsunami, Mumbai/Bihar Floods, Droughts…Counting the dead bodies was just a Statistical exercise.
But the list would be incomplete without counting the positive notable events 
We cant estimate the amount of scams, but yes we were officially declared Billionaire in terms of Population next only to China. Being the nation with youngest manpower this can be an asset for us.
The previous decade (1991-2000) saw the worst on the financial front. Thanks to Dr. Manmohan Singh & Narsimharao the present one sent us roaring at all fronts. It was revolution in telecom sector with the mobile subscriber base crossing 700 million mark. Our Forex reserves, FDI's, Foreign trades touched records and sens*x kissed 21000 mark as Indian Corporates went on a buying expedition across the world with deals like that of Corus, Jaguar, Arcelor…We became one of the fastest growing economies, We had already declared ourself Nuclear Power in 1998, but this decade saw the world recognizing us with countries rushing up to enter into nuclear deals (123 is still going). Then we got our first desi car TATA INDICA and another feather was added with the cheapest one NANO.
On sporting front, we became world champion in 20-20 and now a days our team is making merry with thrashing SA just 24 hrs. back. We managed to get an Individual Olympic Gold, courtesy Abhinav Bindra and couple of other medals too. Then 2010 saw us taking a leap (other than something called cricket) by successfully hosting Common Wealth Games (although many countries are still wondering how we managed it after such mayhem)
The decade also became witnessed to Religious Mahakumb & along with it MahaKumbh of Demorcary – Indian General Elections. The First one in 2004 witnessing a change of power from NDA To UPA and the second one return of UPA. Keeping in view the scale of operations and complexities there is no equivalent of our Elections.
The decade also saw Indian women racing on different frontiers, We got our first Female President Smt. Pratibha Patil. And some of the other noteable names were Indira Nooyi, Chanda Kochhar, Sania Mirza, Saina nehwal, Kalpana Chawla, Punita Arora, Meira Kumar etc.
A special mention of CA Rajani Gopal (First blind Female CA)
Besides above another issues like Inflation, Singur, Recession, Reservations, Religious matters, Domcile (uttar bhartiya) issues, territorial issues and Judicial issues like Jessica Lal, Aarushi, Ruchika, Bhopal Gas Tradegy Verdict, Ayodhya verdict and the latest one of Binayak Sen, end of Indian middle class icon – Bajaj Chetak Scooter, Delhi metro, state elections and sad demise of numerous notable key people of different fields and eras kept making headlines time to time.
2011-2020
What are we carrying with us in next decade??? – No surprises - our all time favourite issues of Reservation, Scams, Terror & Discrimination. Gujjars are already out there demanding reservations, earlier this year it was Jat community and no need to get surprised if some others too follow. Just when I am writing this one, some other such issues are knocking the door of 2011. Srikrishna Committee have submitted its report on separate state of Telangana which is expected to be open publicly in first week of January and Krishan Water Dispute Tribunal made final allocation of water to 3 fighting states. We can expect some action on these 2 reports right in beginning of 2011 along with some reactions too and many other such reports are waiting to come out.
Another democratic event is also going to make headlines soon i.e. West Bengal Elections. With the chances of end of the Left Rule Era these elections might affect the national politics as well and then the 2012 UP elections are also there.
On our Professional front, we will see us welcoming vast changes in our field with the first one beginning right from April 2011 –International Financial Reporting Standards and not far behind are Direct Tax Code, Goods & Service Tax, & New Company Law. The coming decade will also see many challenges for our country in form of Food, Water, Environment, Energy etc.
We should not forget Our lovely neighbouring countries who are always there to make this decade happening for us in their own style.
And for our cricket crazy nation the big bonanza WORLD CUP is round the corner with just one month to go. Hopefully Dhoni & Co. will give our billion plus nation a reason to cheer…
Here at CA CLUB, the outgoing decade might have carried moments of joy & sorrow for the members and many of you might have witnessed life changing events. Similarly the upcoming decade will be decisive in laying a foundation for career of many of us and will give us numerous moments of joy and sorrow. The past couple of years have given this club a new class of outstanding contributors and hopefully in the coming years the trend will keep on going. We all as a part of our profession, as part of our family, as Indian, as individual and as HUMAN carry a lot of burden to make this decade a memorable one in real terms. I pray to GOD to inspire us to do whatever is best for us.
With all these Pains, smiles, challenges, opportunities, threats & hope I welcome 2011.
Jai Hind.
CAclubindia
