The Hindu Newspaper Editorial Vocabulary : 02 November 2018 -For Various Competitive Exams

The Hindu Newspaper Editorial Vocabulary : 02 November 2018 -For Various Competitive Exams

Has the CBI’s credibility been compromised?

Maybe there is need for a second public agitation to get a Lokpal appointed

With the public antagonism between the top two officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) followed by the outrageous midnight reshuffle done at the behest of a visibly edgy Narendra Modi government, it appears like we are living in a parallel universe. CBI Director Alok Verma was not just at loggerheads with Special Director Rakesh Asthana; he was also convinced that Mr. Asthana was involved in a murky extortion mafia operation.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the government seemed mysteriously unconvinced by this. Mr. Asthana’s earlier assignments in Gujarat pointed to a close proximity between him and Mr. Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. Mr. Asthana predictably launched a counteroffensive and made damaging accusations against Mr. Verma. This was a bitter internecine warfare within the CBI, and the government’s discomfiture was clear. A Kafkaesque twist arrived with the hurried appointment of interim director Mr. Nageswara Rao. It has been revealed that Mr. Rao has questionable credentials. He allegedly has serious accusations of graft against him and is a proponent of aggressive Hindutva nationalism that would please a certain NGO in Nagpur. If the CBI was a caged parrot before, it is a roasted turkey now.

Attacking institutions

India’s democratic institutions are experiencing a serious atrophy; political interventions are assuming a brazen form under Mr. Modi. The CBI may be the most infamous casualty, but the Election Commission, the CVC, the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department and the National Investigation Agency all appear immobilised under an authoritarian regime whose political motivations to subsume institutions of governance are crystal clear. Anyone opposing the government’s insidious agenda is summarily dumped. Mr. Verma appears to be the latest victim. Even the Supreme Court faced a litmus test when four judges of the collegium talked publicly of the precarious state of India’s democracy. The Emergency lasted 21 months, the undeclared Emergency has already lasted more than 53 months. India has become a democratically elected dictatorship. The sordid CBI saga is a manifestation of a banana republic.

There are three fundamental questions that only Mr. Modi can answer, as the buck stops with him. One, why did they impose Mr. Asthana on Mr. Verma when Mr. Verma had written a dissent note against his appointment to the CVC? Two, why did the government mislead the Supreme Court that Mr. Asthana had Mr. Verma’s full endorsement, which has been contradicted by Mr. Verma in his petition to the SC? Three, why was there a 1.45 a.m. coup against a police chief who was selected less than two years ago, with the Prime Minister being one of the three selectors? Why the trepidation? The Congress is convinced that a paranoid Modi government apprehended that Mr. Verma was about to initiate a preliminary inquiry into the Rafale scam.

On November 12, the SC will perhaps pass its final order on the indelicate mess. But the CBI has been irretrievably damaged; its reputation is sullied. The only silver lining is that future governments will think a thousand times before interfering with its operations. India needs a robust independent entity to investigate big-ticket corruption.

There is some hope

The CBI must be restored to its foundational objectives. Maybe there is need for a second public agitation to get a Lokpal appointed; Mr. Modi has craftily sabotaged it by using some apocryphal spin or the other.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court is doing all the heavy lifting to protect our constitutional morality. There is hope.

Courtesy: The Hindu 

1.   Antagonism (noun) – Active hostility or opposition, antipathy, animus, dissension, rivalry, feud, conflict, discord

2.   Outrageous (adjective) – Shocking bad or excessive

3.   Behest (noun) - A person's orders or command.

4.   Edgy (adjective) - Tense, nervous, or irritable, strung, anxious, apprehensive,

5.   At loggerheads (phrase) - In violent dispute or disagreement.

6.  Murky (adjective) - Dark and gloomy, especially due to thick mist, turbid suspicious, suspect, dubious

7.  Extortion (noun) - The practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats

8. Proximity (noun) - Nearness in space, time, or relationship, nearness, presence, juxtaposition, propinquity, adjacency

9. Counteroffensive (noun) - An attack made in response to one from an enemy, counterattack

10. Accusations (noun) - A charge or claim that someone has done something illegal or wrong, incrimination, imputation, denouncement, indictment, arraignment, citation, inculpation

11. Internecine (adjective) - Destructive to both sides in a conflict, violent, fierce, destructive, ruinous

12. Discomfiture (noun) - A feeling of unease or embarrassment; awkwardness, awkwardness, discomfort, discomposure, abashment, flusteredness, disorientation, perturbation

13. Kafkaesque (adjective) - Characteristic or reminiscent of the oppressive or nightmarish qualities of Franz Kafka's fictional world.

14. Allegedly (adverb) - reportedly, supposedly, reputedly, purportedly, ostensibly,by all accounts, so the story goes, putatively, presumedly, presumably, assumedly, declaredly, avowedly

15. Graft (verb) - Insert (a shoot or twig) as a graft, affix, insert, splice

16. Proponent (noun) - A person who advocates a theory, proposal, or course of action, supporter, upholder, exponentadherent, endorser,patron, espouser,apostle, apologist, pleader, proposer, propounder, spokesperson,

17. Atrophy (verb) - waste away, waste, become emaciated, wither, shrivel, shrivel up, shrink, become shrunkendecay, wilt, peter out, taper off, tail off, dwindle, deteriorate, decline, wane, fadecrumble, disintegrate, slump, go downhill, draw to a close, subside

18. Interventions (noun) - interference by a state in another's affairs, intercession, interceding, interposing, interposition

19. Brazen (adjective) - Bold and without shame, presumptuous, brash, immodest, unashamed, unabashed, unembarrassed, unblushing, put a bold face on it, be defiant, be unrepentant, be impenitent, be unashamed, be unabashed, stand one's ground

20. Regime (noun) - A government, especially an authoritarian one.

21. Subsume (verb) - Include or absorb (something) in something else.

22. Insidious (adjective) - Proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with very harmful effects, stealthy, subtle, surreptitious, sneaking, cunning, crafty, machiavellian, artful, guileful, sly, wily, tricky, slick, deceitful, deceptive,underhand, backhanded,

23. Dumped (verb) - dispose of, Abandon or desert (someone), Criticize or abuse (someone); treat badly

24. A litmus test (noun) - A decisively indicative test.

25. Precarious (adjective) - dangerous, hazardous, perilous, unsafe, risky, deceptive, unreliable, uncertain, insecure, unreliable, unsure, unpredictable, perilous, treacherous, on a slippery slope, on thin ice, touch-and-go, built on sand, doubtful, dubious, delicate, tricky, problematic

26. Sordid (adjective) - Involving immoral or dishonourable actions and motives, sleazy, seamy, unsavoury, shoddy, vile, foul, tawdry, louche, disreputable, despicable, discreditable, ignominious, ignoble, shameful, wretched, abhorrent, abominable, disgusting

27. Manifestation (noun) - display, demonstration, showing, show, exhibition, presentation, indication, illustration, exemplification, exposition, disclosure, declaration

28. Banana republic (noun) – derogatory, A small state that is politically unstable as a result of the domination of its economy by a single export controlled by foreign capital.

29. Buck stops (Idiom) - take responsibility for something and will not try to pass the responsibility on to someone else

30. Dissent (noun) - disagreement, lack of agreement, difference of opinion, argument, dispute, demur

31. Endorsement (noun) - support, backing, approval, agreement, acceptance, advocacy, championship, patronage

32. Coup (noun) - A sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government, seizure of power, overthrow, takeover,

33. Convinced (adjective) - certain, sure, confident, satisfied, free from doubt, assured, persuaded

34. Indelicate (adjective) - insensitive, tactless, undiplomatic, impolitic, indiscreet

35. Irretrievably (adverb) - In a way that cannot be retrieved or put right

36. Sullied (verb) - taint, defile, tarnish, stain, blemish, besmirch, befoul, contaminate, pollute, spoil, mar, spot, make impure, disgrace, dishonour, injure, damage

37. Silver lining (phrase) - Every difficult or sad situation has a comforting or more hopeful aspect, even though this may not be immediately apparent.

38. Agitation (noun) - anxiety, perturbation, disquiet, distress, concern, trouble, whisking, turbulence, tossing, blending, striving, battling, fighting, struggling, crusading

39. Sabotaged (verb) - Deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct (something), especially for political or military advantage, wreck, deliberately damage, vandalize, cripple, impair, incapacitate, ruin, wreck, undermine, filibuster, impair, threaten, subvert

40. Apocryphal (adjective) - writings or statements of dubious authenticity, fictitious, made-up, untrue, fabricated, spurious