With various politics related protests, climate change, economic slowdown, the first month of 2020 hasn’t been much of a joy ride.
But honestly, just because there are bad things happening globally, doesn’t mean the world is entirely in ruins. So, here are some of the empowering things that have happened in January 2020.
1. Over 100 Army personnel & 30 civilians carried a pregnant woman and walked for 4 hours in waist-deep snow so that she can deliver on time.
#HumsaayaHainHum 🇮🇳🍁
— Chinar Corps – Indian Army (@ChinarcorpsIA) January 14, 2020
During heavy snowfall, an expecting mother Mrs Shamima, required emergency hospitalisation. For 4 hours over 100 Army persons & 30 civilians walked with her on stretcher through heavy snow. Baby born in hospital, both mother & child doing fine. #VRWithU4U pic.twitter.com/BpDcXRvuUH
2. Over 70 Lakh people in Kerala observed Republic Day by taking a pledge to protect the constitution and formed a 621 Km human chain from North to South Kerala.
This is “Incredible India.” ❤❤
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) January 27, 2020
Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Dalit, Sikh, and Christian protesters against BJP’s anti-Muslim citizenship laws formed a 620 kilometer (380 mile) unbroken human chain in Kerala. pic.twitter.com/cRdxrsUyI5
3. Captain Tanya Shergill made history by becoming the 1st woman parade adjutant leading an all-men contingent at India’s 71st Republic day parade.
Captain Tanya Shergill leads the Corps of Signals Contingent in the #RepublicDay Parade #CaptainTanyaShergil#IndianArmy#RepublicDay2020 #RepublicDay pic.twitter.com/RVIOx5lmRn
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) January 26, 2020
4. A war memorial dedicated to service animals is going to open in India for the very first time in Meerut. It will be dedicated to dogs, horses, mules and all other service animals for their outstanding contribution to military service.
Meerut to get country’s first war memorial for animals pic.twitter.com/71W9T0fPry
— Himanshu Pu-rohit 💯%fb.. (@Himansh65511356) January 27, 2020
5. Simran from Rohtak and Kajal from Fatehabad who are two daughters of marginalized farmers scored over 99% in the JEE Main 2020 and made their parents proud.
6. Actor Deepika Padukone becomes the first Bollywood celebrity to feature in a Louis Vuitton campaign and makes history.
7. The Indian Hockey team donated $25,000 to the Red Cross Bushfire Appeal, in order to help Australia recover from devastating bush fires.
Hockey India is happy to support Australia amidst the wild fires by donating $US 25,000 and providing four playing signed Indian Men’s and Women’s jerseys to auction. All proceeds to go to the cause.
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 20, 2020
Standing in solidarity with @HockeyAustralia 🙏#IndiaKaGame pic.twitter.com/IUzSSpUAXp
8. Kerala mosque hosted a Hindu wedding ceremony and gifted the couple a gift of ₹ 2 lakh and 10 sovereigns of gold.
An example of unity from Kerala.
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) January 19, 2020
The Cheravally Muslim Jamat Mosque hosted a Hindu wedding of Asha & Sharath. The Mosque came to their help after Asha’s mother sought help from them.
Congratulations to the newlyweds, families, Mosque authorities & the people of Cheravally. pic.twitter.com/nTX7QuBl2a
9. Protesters at Shaheen Bagh erected a 40-foot high, 300 kg iron map of India near the foot over bridge that read, ‘We the people of India reject CAA, NPR, NRC’.
A huge, steel made map of INDIA has been installed at the protest site at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi with the message “We the people of India reject CAA, NPR &NRC.”#ShahinBaghProtest#WeReject_CAA_NPR_NRC pic.twitter.com/JbQqGV4ZyJ
— Prabhat Tiwari (@tiwariprabhat_) January 17, 2020
10. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that it is on its way to launch the country’s first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan in 2022.
11. Mumbai becomes ‘Maximum city‘ from January 27 as a majority of eateries, malls, multiplexes and restaurants will be open 24×7 in the city.
12. Union Home Ministry officials confirmed that for the first time, the upcoming Census Data Collection will include data on households headed by a transgender and members living in the family.
13. To deter the problem of public urination Bruhut Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) installed huge mirrors on the walls so that people feel embarrassed urinating in public.
BENGALURU, LOOK BEFORE YOU PEE: PUBLIC SHAMING TO PREVENT PUBLIC URINATION#Kudos to #BBMP#Bengaluru #swacchbengaluru @BBMP_MAYOR @hd_kumaraswamy @BJPKarITCell @BSYBJP @Office_of_BSY pic.twitter.com/o71JfdB6ig
— ರಾಧಾ ಕೃಷ್ಣ (@im_vinodhraj11) January 14, 2020
14. Helicopters were being used to drop thousands of kilograms of carrots and sweet potatoes for all those endangered animals who were fighting for survival in Australian bush fires.
Thousands of kilograms of carrots and sweet potato are being delivered to endangered Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies in fire affected areas as the NSW Government steps in to help. #9News pic.twitter.com/Vw3SnMUejL
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) January 12, 2020
15. A 17-year-old high school student named Wolf Cukier discovered a planet on his first day of internship in NASA.
Our @NASAExoplanets mission @NASA_TESS has found its first planet with two suns ☀️☀️, located 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Pictor. A @NASAGoddard intern examined TESS data, first flagged by citizen scientists, to make this discovery: https://t.co/ADydGfx1uc pic.twitter.com/hkgCYYW5AQ
— NASA (@NASA) January 7, 2020
16. With a crime rate of 152.2, Kolkata came out on top to be the safest city in the country, for the second year in a row.
17. A 23-year-old visually impaired prodigy, Tapaswini Das cracked Odisha’s Civil Services Examination in her first attempt.
18. A Sikh woman, who was supposed to travel back to India from Australia after a 10-year hiatus, cancelled her tickets to help provide food to the thousands of bushfire victims.
19. Deepika Padukone joined the JNU protests with students against the violence that broke out in New Delhi.
#WATCH Delhi: Deepika Padukone outside Jawaharlal Nehru University, to support students protesting against #JNUViolence. pic.twitter.com/vS5RNajf1O
— ANI (@ANI) January 7, 2020
20. Kerala government proposed a plan to make reading of Preamble of the Constitution a part of school and college assemblies.
21. Iron lady Irom Sharmila brought her twin babies to join Bengaluru in anti-CAA protests.
January 5. Irom Sharmila has turned up with her twin daughters at the protest against CAA and NRC in Bengaluru. pic.twitter.com/3XM4cp30cb
— Prajwal (@prajwalmanipal) January 5, 2020
22. 19-Year-Old Sweety Kumari from Bihar was awarded ‘International Young Player Of The Year’ in rugby.
23. The National Capital got its first-ever smog tower in Lajpat Nagar which would suck air pollutants and can remove up to 80% of the particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM 10).
#Delhi gets first #smog tower to combat #Airpollution in LajpatNagar, cost borne by @BjpEastdelhi‘s #MP @GautamGambhir Foundation
— The Sunil Kapoor™ (@sunilkapoor8) January 3, 2020
– delhi news – Hindustan Times pic.twitter.com/4SYljfDAha
24. Artist Bilie Eilish created history by becoming the youngest artist and the first woman to get all these four titles ( Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist) in the same year.
Looks like the year didn’t have a bad start.