PokemonGo to Rio2016: The top five social media trends in 2016

A selection of events that played out big on social media in the year 2016

The year 2016 is nearly over and, like previous years, this one also saw some good, some bad and some strange stuff on social media.

It is not unusual for people to comment on the speed with which an entire year went by, that does not, however, mean that the year was not full of action. Here is a recap of some of the major topics that trended on social media this year to help refresh your memory:

#Demonetisation

If you thought #Brexit was a prank that went too far, wait till you hear about this one! It was November 8, 2016, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on national television that the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would cease to be legal tender from midnight and the people of India would have 50 days in which to exchange or deposit these notes in banks. A stunned India has since been standing in queues at banks and ATMs, as the two demonetised currency denominations accounted for 86 per cent of the total cash in circulation in the county of 1.3 billion people. There is hardly any Indian who has not been affected by this decision and the topic has caught the fancy of social media users in one way or the other. As far as shelf lives of an event goes, #demonetisation or #noteban is right up there with #GeneralElections

Cartoonists also had a great time during these fifty days. Here are two samples 

#Brexit

To stay or leave? In June this year, British citizens voted to answer this question about Britain’s membership of the European Union. In an event that sent shockwaves around the world, 52 per cent of the voters who participated in the referendum, voted to leave the EU. British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was in favour of a “stay”, resigned after the result was known. He was succeeded by Theresa May at the Prime Minister’s office. The aftershocks of this event are still being felt by the global economy. The entire process, it is believed, will take two years to finish.

While the world was in shock when the result was declared, social media reacted like, well, social media!

#PokemonGo

In July this year, Niantic released an augmented reality game for mobile phones and people all over the world left their homes in search of imaginary creatures called Pokémon. Gamers tried to locate and capture these creatures using their phone’s GPS. The game, a wild success the world over, saw more than 500 million downloads. It now holds five Guinness World Records, including one for grossing the highest revenue ($ 206.5 million) in the first month. 

So, did you catch some Pikachu or not?

#Rio2016

The year 2016 happened to be one of the 31st Olympic games in the city of Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Just like Pokemon Go, #Rio2016 was a global phenomenon that became one of the biggest trends this year. Some 11,000 athletes representing 205 countries participated in the games and for those 17 days in August when the games were on, social media forgot the world’s worries and watched these super athletes compete for glory. USA topped the tables with 46 gold medals. India had to wait for many days before it could win a medal. Sakshi Malik won a bronze in Women’s Freestyle Wrestling and two days later P V Sindhu bagged a silver medal in Women’s singles Badminton.

Breaking News & Latest News :

Cabinet passes ordinance; fine, jail for holding old notes

(Ordinance is to extinguish liability of govt and RBI on the demonetised high-denomination notes)

Soon, dental implants that kill bacteria, anchor to bone

(Mouth infections are currently regarded as the main reason why dental implants fail)

I-T notices to 50 car dealers; seeks details of customers post Nov 8

(Dept wants details of customers along with their addresses, car bought, invoiced cost, booking dates)

Budget: PM Modi calls for innovation; special focus on skills & tourism

(The government has said February 1 will be the date for presentation of future Union Budgets)

India Aviation takes off, govt reaches out to industry

The fifth edition of India Aviation 2016 kicked off in Hyderabad on Wednesday with a focus on developing the country as a manufacturing and maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) hub, bringing to together airline promoters, chief executives and bureaucrats.

On the occasion, along with Make in India, the government also emphasised its focus on plans for regional connectivity, which received a boost in Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget 2016.

The event also attracted three biggest airlines from the Gulf - Emirates from Dubai, United Arab Emirates' Etihad Airways and Doha's Qatar Airways, as these companies marked a presence for the first time in the biennial show.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the first day of the five-day event saw participation from 25 countries, with ministerial-level participation from four countries. "The country's aviation sector has grown by about 35 per cent from the time the show was conducted in 2014, with an unparalleled 20 per cent growth in domestic traffic," said Raju.

The Indian aviation 2016 sector is witnessing its most buoyant period on the back of low fuel prices and passenger growth. According to estimates by International Air Transport Association, India's domestic air travel soared 22.9 per cent in January, compared to a year ago. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong domestic economy and increases in air services.

The Indian market overtook both Australia and Japan during 2015 and is currently level with Russia at around 1.2 per cent of global passenger traffic.

Emirates specially flew in its jumbo Airbus A380 for the show and Qatar Airways is displaying an Airbus A350, the latest in its fleet.

With India clocking the highest growth rate in the aviation sector for almost a year now, the country has become important for the airlines.

Maruti's LCV launch delayed due to activism against diesel vehicles

Maruti Suzuki has missed a date set earlier for entering the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment, pointing to the activism against diesel use. The country’s largest car maker was to launch a mini truck, which it has been developing since 2013, before March 31.

Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director, said: “Launching the LCV this financial year is quite difficult. So much has happened against diesel.

business-standard.com

Read More.

Budget 2016: Fiscal Framework: Review medium-term fiscal stance

Fiscal hawks might not like it but the Budget 2016 has made a case for reviewing the medium-term fiscal framework in the upcoming Budget News. It, however, has argued that there were “good” arguments for both relaxing the fiscal deficit target and keeping it.

The framework mandates the government to cut its fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) next financial year and 3 per cent by 2017-18 from the targeted 3.9 per cent in the current financial year.

Budget 2016: Subsidies: Plug subsidy leaks to help fiscal consolidation

If lower tax rate is equivalent to subsidising, the National Democratic Alliance government is clearly targeting the 'well-off' segment of the population. Unlike the previous years, the Budget 2016 has dealt with the issue of subsidy by giving only a box on petroleum subsidies, while devoting a chapter with nine-and-a-half pages to 'Bounties for the Well-Off'.

Read more from our special coverage on "BUDGET 2016"

• Budget News
• Budget Photos
• Budget Discussion

Maternal and child health could be a top priority for the government, says Economic Survey

Understanding that relatively low-cost maternal and early-life health and nutrition programmes offer very high returns on investment, investing in these two sectors could become a top policy priority of the government, said the economic survey, Budget 2016.

“One can build clinics in villages or transfer money to pregnant mothers or build latrines, but how does one bring out the right usage of all this physical capital is the next task in front of the government,” stated the survey.Read More.

Budget 2016: Economic Survey pegs FY17 GDP growth at 7-7.75%

The #EconomicSurvey2016 , tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday, pegged India’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 7-7.75 per cent next financial over this year. The upper part of the range  given in the Survey is slightly higher than the 7.6 per cent, officially pegged for the current financial year, while the lower part is way down.

The Survey was hopeful that the economy could clock eight per cent economic growth in a couple of years due to reform measures initiated by the government.

Markets likely to remain volatile, Railway Budget eyed

Stock markets are likely to see volatile trading sessions this week amid derivatives expiry, with all eyes set on two key events -- Railway Budget and Economic Surveyreport, say experts.
"Trend in global markets, crude oil prices, Economic Survey, reform measures announcement in upcoming Railway Budget and rupee-dollar movement will dictate trend on the bourses. Indices may remain volatile with positive bias ahead of expiry of February series derivative contract in the week ahead," said Gaurav Jain, Director, Hem Securities.

46 days in India and counting...

Frequent foreign visits and increased engagement with the Indian Diaspora have defined Prime Minister Narendra Modi foreign policy initiatives in the first 20 months of his tenure. But Modi is unlikely to be as keen on travelling overseas in 2016.

The PM, given his busy domestic schedule, is yet to travel outside India in 2016. His last foreign visit was to Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan (December 23-25, 2015). The PM, therefore, has spent an uninterrupted 46 days in India. This is the second longest unbroken stay of Modi in India since he took over as the PM on May 26, 2014.

RBI decision on expected lines: FinMin

Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said RBI's move to keep the policy rate intact was on the expected lines.

He said one has to wait for the Budget to know the government strategy on the fiscal consolidation road map. The Budget is expected to be tabled in Parliament on February 29.

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016

The finance ministry is grappling with the issue of fiscal consolidation road map. It has received all sorts of advices-- to defer the road map by one more year, stay on the path and not to tie itself with any fiscal deficit number.

As RBI expected inflation would be 5% in FY17, Das said one has to see how inflation turns from here.

**Budget 2016: IPPAI bats for tax incentives for power sector**

In the run up to the Union Budget 2016, Indian power producers have proposed to the government a slew of tax benefits to incentivise investments in the sector.

Independent Power Producers Association of India (IPPAI) in a letter to the ministries of finance, coal and power asked the government to extend a 10-year tax holiday to companies that start power generation by March 31, 2020.
Read our full coverage on Business Standard Budget.

“Industry players have called for the extension of the sunset tax clause for power companies to include plants that provide power till March 2020 as opposed to 2017 earlier,” said the letter.

The association has also asked for minimum alternate tax to be reduced to 10 per cent. With regards to coking coal, IPPAI has asked for reduction in customs duty on it. 

Budget 2016: Easwar panel wants higher threshold & lower rates for TDS on bank deposits

Ahead of the Union Budget 2016, a committee asked to make recommendations on simplifying the current income tax (I-T) law has recommended a higher threshold for deduction of tax at source and cuts in rates, plus measures to reduce litigation.

The Union Budget 2016-17 is to be tabled on February 29.   

The 10-member panel is chaired by R V Easwar, a former high court judge. Appointed in late October 2015, its first report, 78 pages, was given on Monday. This is a draft report, issued to elicit feedback before finalisation. It focuses on simpler issues that it feels need immediate attention. Comments have been invited till the coming Saturday, after which the committee will finalise the first part of the report by January 31.

Budget 2016, Banks want govt to focus on public spending over fiscal deficit road map

Banks and financial institutions pitched for a delay in the fiscal deficit road map and for more focus on greater public spending to ensure economic revival, at a Budget 2016 meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday.
The institutions also wanted incentives to encourage cashless transactions through debit/credit cards and rationalisation of interest rate of small savings schemes.
Read our full coverage on Union Budget
The two-hour meeting saw heads of the country's public and private sector banks - including State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, LIC, IIFCL, IDBI Bank, NABARD, Citi Bank and L&T Finance Holdings - discuss key measures that could be introduced in the Budget 2016-17 to ensure economic growth revival.