The year in a shot

Seen through the lens, 2023 presents a lesson in resilience. Life went on—despite war and disasters.

Members of ‘Meira Paibis’, a women’s social movement in Manipur, during a demonstration in Imphal on August 9 demanding the restoration of peace in the State. The protesters were accused of interfering in the operations of security forces that day, but one of the charges against the outfit’s Meitei activists was that they encouraged sexual violence against Kuki-Zo women.   | Photo Credit: AFP

Rescuers carry the body of a victim at the site where three passenger trains collided in Balasore District, Odisha, on June 3. A total of 296 people were killed and more than 1,200 others were injured. It was India’s deadliest railway crash since the Firozabad rail collision in 1995. It was also the deadliest rail disaster worldwide since the 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami train wreck.   | Photo Credit: RAFIQ MAQBOOL/AP

Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra is joined by opposition MPs when addressing the media outside Parliament on December 8. Earlier that day, a Lok Sabha Ethics Committee found Moitra guilty in the “cash-for-query” scam, leading to her expulsion from Parliament. Calling the campaign against her a “misogynistic witch-hunt”, the 49-year-old politician has said she will steadfastly continue “fighting” the “nexus” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.  | Photo Credit: VIJAY VERMA/PTI

Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma consoles her husband Virat Kohli after the Indian men’s cricket team faltered at the last hurdle and lost to Australia in a one-sided ODI World Cup final, played in Ahmedabad on November 19. Though in vain, Kohli’s 756 runs made him the highest scorer of the tournament.  | Photo Credit: ANI

Paramilitary soldiers stand guard near a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that was on display in Srinagar on December 11. On that day, the Supreme Court upheld the Modi government’s decision to revoke special status for the State of Jammu and Kashmir. | Photo Credit: Mukhtar Khan/AP

Construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple nears completion in Ayodhya on December 8. Urban upliftment projects worth Rs.50,000 crore—including an airport, railway station, new township, roads, and hotels—are reportedly being managed by 37 State and national government agencies.   | Photo Credit: ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi carries the “Sengol”, a gold-plated silver sceptre, inside the new Parliament building in New Delhi on May 28. The Sengol was originally gifted to Jawaharlal Nehru on August 15, 1947, by the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam, a Saivite monastery in Tamil Nadu.  | Photo Credit: ANI/PIB

Having been released from an Israeli jail in exchange for hostages released by Hamas, a Palestinian prisoner hugs his mother in Ramallah, West Bank, on November 26. Freeing prisoners was a crucial motive that Hamas ofificials said catalysed their surprise October 7 terror attack, the deadliest assault on Israel since its establishment in 1948. To gain access to Israeli territory, Hamas flew paragliders from Gaza and used bulldozers to poke holes in a barrier fence. They took at least 236 hostages and killed in cold blood about 1,200 people, nearly 1.25 times the total number of Israeli fatalities during the entire five years of the Second Intifada (2000-2005). | Photo Credit: FADEL SENNA/AFP

Following an Israeli strike, smoke rises over the northern Gaza Strip on October 25. The United Nations says Gaza is at risk of famine if the war between Israel and Hamas continues. A quarter of households—roughly 5,00,000 people—are facing “catastrophic conditions”, a UN food security agency found. | Photo Credit: RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP

A woman breaks down after seeing the corpse of her sister, who was killed during Israeli bombardment at Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 21.   | Photo Credit: MOHAMMED ABED/AFP

A boy inspects the remains of a destroyed building in a residential area that was targeted by Israeli missiles in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on October 30, a day Palestinian authorities said children comprised 40 per cent of the 3,457 deaths recorded in the region. | Photo Credit: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan prepares to give an interview on January 24, three months after a gunman open-fired on his convoy, wounding him and killing a supporter.  | Photo Credit: BETSY JOLES/Bloomberg

A tree is scorched by wildfire in the village of Dikella, west of Alexandroupolis, Greece, on August 22. Likely the hottest year on record, 2023 saw several extreme global weather events result in a range of catastrophes, everything from extreme drought to record floods. | Photo Credit: KONSTANTINOS TSAKALIDIS/Bloomberg

King Charles III waves to crowds as he travels along The Mall in the Gold State Coach with Queen Camilla on May 6, the day he became the first British monarch to be coronated in the 21st century. | Photo Credit: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping raise a toast at a reception that followed bilateral talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.   | Photo Credit: PAVEL BYRKIN/AFP

Humanoid AI robot “Ameca” looks on at the ITU AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on July 5, the world’s largest gathering of humanoid AI robots . As so-called language models got better—the latest version of ChatGPT is reportedly ten times more advanced than its predecessor—technology leaders like Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak signed an open letter in March, warning that AI poses a “profound risk to society and humanity.” | Photo Credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP