The Young Chronicle: For 4th Graders December 26th, 2014 | Page 6

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Atal Bihari Vajpyee, the Bharat Ratna Awardee

Things that Made Big News in 2014

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the 11th Prime Minister of

(In Random Order)

India. He had a short stint of 13 days before his

The General Elections: This was the first time a
party won in full majority, in India. This time
around, the BJP, which won the elections, did not
have to form a collation with any other party to
form the government.

government toppled the first time, in 1996. But
thereafter, he was able to form the government again in
1998, which served a full term of 5 years. He was the
first PM outside the Indian National Congress, to serve a
full term.
Aside from being the PM, Vajpyee had been elected in
the Lok Sabha 9 times, and the Rajiya Sabha, twice.
After his Priministership got over, he became an MP
from Lucknow, and later left politics in 2009.

Mangalyaan: With the launch of the Mangalyaan,
India became the first country to successfully
launch a spacecraft into the Mars orbit, in the
first attempt.

Vajpyee is one of the founding members of the BJP, and
as the PM, he was known for his progressive thinking.
Under his governance, India conducted five

The Ebola Virus broke out in Africa in February

underground nuclear tests in Pokhran, in the Thar desert
in Rajasthan, 24 yrs after India conducted its first
nuclear test Pokhran-I, in 1974.
In late 1998 and early 1999, Vajpayee began a full-scale

An Indian and a Pakistani, Kailash Satyarthi and
Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize
together.

diplomatic peace process with Pakistan. He inaugurated
a bus service between Delhi and Lahore, in February.
He also endeavoured to resolve the Kashmir peace
process once and for all, he expanded trade relations
and mutual friendship and envisaged a goal of de-

In February, Belgium became the first country in
the world to legalise euthanasia (the right to
die) for terminally ill patients of any age.

nuclearised South Asia. But Pakistan had other things in
mind. They had already infiltrated the Indian Border in
Kashmir, and the Kargil war broke out in March-April,
1999.
After winning the Kargil War, In October 1999, the
elections were to happen again as AIADMK, a major

In March, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing
777 airliner en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur,
5
disappeared over the Gulf of Thailand with 239
people on board. The aircraft is presumed to have
crashed into the Indian Ocean.

party from Tamil Nadu, had pulled the plug on BJP, but
post the Kargil War, BJP got full support of the people
and won in vast majority.
During his term, Vajpyee encouraged the private sector
and foreign investments, reducing governmental waste,
encouraging research and development and
privatisation of some government owned corporations.
The countryʼs economy grew at a record 6-7% in his
term. In fact, by the end of his term, the government had
developed half the roads in their 5 year term through the
National Highway Development Project and Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

In June, a militant group called the Islamic State
in Iraq and the Levant (also known as the ISIS or
ISIL) began an offensive through northern Iraq,
aiming to capture the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad
and overthrow the government led by Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
In December, the Army school in Peshawar,
Pakistan, was brutally attacked by militants in
Pakistan.
In September, Jammu and Kashmir were faced
with devastating floods, killing many.