Podcast | Editor's Pick of the Day - A few stories that shook the country this year

In any democracy, the real power to change narratives lies with people.

Even if sometimes it doesn't seem so.

Even if dissent becomes dangerous at times, as in the case of Manipur journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem who was held on November 27 after he allegedly uploaded videos criticising the BJP-led Manipur and Central governments and has been detained for 12 months under the National Security Act (NSA).

Kishorechand Wangkhem is in a way emblematic of every Indian citizen who takes the right to dissent seriously regardless of who is in power. And the crackdown on them by the powers that be is old news too right from the times of Emergency, that dark 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when civil liberties saw unprecedented suppression.

And continues to date with TOI reporting on December 21, "In a scary Orwellian move that should give all citizens pause, the Ministry of Home Affairs has granted sweeping powers to 10 central agencies to track, monitor and intercept data on every computer in the country. For the first time ever the government has given the power to scan data on a computer -- and not just in transit between two computers -- to investigating agencies, according to reports."

The sign of a healthy democracy is that the citizens always feel empowered, free and fearless to not just to opine but to share their opinions.

On this episode in our series of year-end roundup podcasts, we look back at the year that was and see how the power pendulum swung between citizenry and the policymakers at the helm of the nation.