Newsmakers of the Year

From nudging the BJP into a political course-correction to being a moral evangelist at large, 2025 saw Bhagwat shape outcomes without overtly occupying centre stage

Even in the midst of a busy year politically, the Union home minister's crowning achievement was dealing a decisive blow to the Maoist insurgency

Operation Sindoor demonstrated India's willingness and resolve to use military might if necessary in response to terrorist attacks orchestrated by the enemy on its soil

Becoming only the second Indian after Rakesh Sharma to transcend Earth's boundaries and reach space, Shubhanshu Shukla marked an important milestone in India's space mission

With a massive assembly poll win, the '10-time CM' not only cocked a snook at critics, but recentred himself as the main architect of Bihar's next act

An Air India flight's crash in June and IndiGo's meltdown in December laid bare how India's aviation sector is becoming a victim of escalating ambition, weak oversight and regulatory lapse

A few of the eminences that departed from our midst in the year gone by, having left an indelible mark in their respective spheres of influence

Formal charges in a US court, an air marked by accusations of bribery and concealment of information, the attendant political backlash, pressure on stock prices, valuation losses. Yet the famed Adani growth appetite and business resilience stays

It’s just day five since he was crowned 2024 FIDE World Chess champion (which he celebrated with a bungee jump), and Gukesh Dommaraju is still lea­rn­ing to adjust to the fanfare. In an exclusive int­er­view with Deputy Editor Suhani Singh, Guki, as he is fondly referred to by fans, talks about his love for chess, the impact of ‘Vishy Sir’, his Gen Z compatriots, the streaming mania around chess and future goals. Excerpts:

Gukesh Dommaraju is now the youngest ever world champion, but that is just icing on the cake in India's chess story. For the 'golden generation', 2024 was the year they did it all

PM Narendra Modi gets a historic third term but with the INDIA bloc denying the BJP a majority on its own, some of the sheen wears off

Under Mohan Bhagwat's leadership, the RSS sharpened its stance, using the Lok Sabha election results to assert its influence and push for a recalibration in the BJP's approach

The former CJI bequeathed on the court a legacy of rigour, justice and constitutional morality, but also drew scrutiny for the loose ends left by his judicial balancing

It was a symbol of the ownership of space by the Hindu faith—its arrival brought euphoria and fulfilment among the devout. The Ram mandir meant many things to many people, and mirrored all the complexities of modern India

At one time, Fadnavis, Shinde and Ajit Pawar were seen as an unwieldy trio with mutually subversive intent. A bumper assembly poll harvest inverts that