New Year

The year 2025 is wafting to a close. And 2026 is waltzing in. I am full of good hopes that the next year will be peaceful and happy for everyone in the world.

Hopefully, the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Thailand will end and people can rebuild their lives again. Nations can invest in their fields and factories to improve productivity. And, spend less on guns and drones to kill each other. Then, people can travel to other countries, see new beautiful spots, make new friends in the world and have some peace. We could gradually have a new borderless world of friendships and affection. This optimism is utopian, however a New Year is the time to hope for the idyllic.

Hopefully, it will not become more expensive to live in 2026. In 2025 the prices of food, rentals and transport have crippled even the middle classes, across the world. Rampant inflation has depressed our living standards. Many restaurants are doing poor business. People are eating unhealthy foods and even less food, to make ends meet. Controlling food inflation should be the number one goal of leaders across the world.

Employment generation should be a key goal of developing nations in Asia and Africa. If a man has a good job, he maintains a family and focuses on career advancement. An unemployed person can go astray into crime. Developing countries need to focus on infrastructure development projects like road-building to create more jobs for the rural and urban poor.

Thus in 2026, we need to focus on preventing wars, controlling inflation and creating employment across the world.

Rajendra Aneja,

Mumbai, India