  While the standard, six-parameter, spatially flat $\Lambda$CDM model has been
highly successful, certain anomalies in the cosmic microwave background bring
out a tension between this model and observations. The statistical significance
of any one anomaly is small. However, taken together, the presence of two or
more of them imply that according to standard inflationary theories we live in
quite an exceptional universe. We revisit the analysis of the PLANCK
collaboration using loop quantum cosmology, where an unforeseen interplay
between the ultraviolet and the infrared makes the \emph{primordial} power
spectrum scale dependent at very small $k$. Consequently, we are led to a
somewhat different $\Lambda$CDM universe in which anomalies associated with
large scale power suppression and the lensing amplitude are both alleviated.
The analysis also leads to new predictions for future observations. This
article is addressed both to cosmology and LQG communities, and we have
attempted to make it self-contained.
