By Prakash Narayan-
(Prakash Narayan is chief technology officer at 3K Technologies)
Here’s wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year. Let us embrace the New Year as a fresh start filled with hope, opportunities, and endless possibilities. May this year bring all of you joy, health, and success in all that you pursue. We hope that your new year is filled with love, laughter, and light.
Over 60 nations held elections this year, including Britain, the European Union, South Korea, South Africa, Finland, France, Taiwan, and even Russia. The world’s largest democracy, India, and the world’s oldest democracy, the U.S., also went to the polls. The elections were conducted in an orderly fashion and unfolded peacefully, and the results were accepted by all parties without violence and civil unrest. Across the board, voters expressed frustration with the rising cost of living. In many cases, the incumbents either lost the election or had their majority diminished – irrespective of whether the incumbents were populist, liberal or conservative, long-entrenched or recently elected. In India, the ruling BJP party, headed by Narendra Modi, had the advantage of incumbency, favorable polls, and much greater funding. Yet, the Indian electorate denied Modi the supermajority that he had promised and anticipated. Modi’s promise of 400+ seats was a sign of arrogance for which he was punished.
In the U.S., the election was as close as everyone predicted. Yet, Trump has been given a powerful mandate with a majority in both the Senate and the House. While the voters in the U.S. had all the reasons not to vote for one candidate (convicted felon, known liar, and sex offender), they had no reason to vote for the other. The issues facing the American public – economic policies, immigration, jobs were not addressed. Kamala Harris’ word salad gave zero idea of what she planned to do. The nominees for the executive branch proposed by Trump lack experience, are ideologically extreme and have conflicts of interest. Clearly, Trump has chosen loyalty over competence. It remains to be seen whether they get confirmed and if so, how they will perform.
In 2024, we saw the best Stock Market performance in recent times. The S&P 500 surged 23% – achieving 57 record closes. This marked the best consecutive two-year performance for the markets since 1997-1998, driven by a robust economy, declining inflation, and an AI-led boom in tech stocks. Bitcoin more than doubled, vaulting above $100,000 for the first time before slipping below that mark.
On the technology front, a massive tech outage swept the globe in July. This knocked out operations for banks, media companies, and emergency services. It forced airlines to ground flights. This exposed the fragility and interdependence of global digital technology. The problem was caused by a single update from CrowdStrike. Ironically, the value proposition for the cybersecurity company was to prevent such massive outages.
The world of AI is seeing a tectonic shift. So far, we have had generative AI creating text, images, and videos. We are beginning to see the next evolution where AI systems don’t just create things, they do things. AI agents will understand context, learn preferences, and interact (both with people and other AI agents) to get stuff done – whether it is booking travel, shopping for the best price on an item, or ordering food. While in the past, there was (still is) an (iOS / Android) “app for that,” today there is (will be) an “agent for that.”
In the world of sports, there were several defining moments in 2024. Caitlin Clark (the AP Female Athlete of the Year) raised the profile of women’s basketball to unprecedented levels in both college and WNBA. In fact, the women’s NCAA final (featuring Clark’s Iowa team) had more viewers than the men’s finals. In the Olympics, Simon Biles lit up the Gymnastics floor with 11 medals (7 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze). Also, in the Olympics, Steph Curry made four 3-pointers in the last three minutes, to lift the U.S. basketball team to a gold medal over the hosts France. At the T20 World Cup, Surya Kumar Yadav took a dramatic catch on the boundary line to dismiss David Miller that sealed the victory for India over South Africa. For me, the most spectacular moment in 2024 took place in a quarter-final soccer match in Euro 2024 when Jude Bellingham (of England) launched himself into mid-air and swung his right leg above his head in the final minute of stoppage time to score the winning goal against Slovakia.
With the start of 2025, we have already lived through the first quarter of the 21st century. At indica News, we will mark this by publishing articles on the 25 top officials (of Indian origin) in Corporate America, 25 top companies (with Indian founders), and 25 top entrepreneurs (of Indian origin). While we will have our own metrics for determining the top 25, we are open to suggestions/nominations. Please submit your nominations in any (or all) of the 3 categories to editor@indicanews.com.
