English Group "Only Achievers"

2021-08-24 06:52:37 The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 24th AUGUST

Staying invested: on India's relations with Afghanistan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to ask the MEA to brief all parliamentary parties on the Government’s actions in Afghanistan comes as questions grow about the Government’s planning for contingencies there, with the Taliban’s takeover. Since August 15, when the Taliban militia entered Kabul, the Government, including the MEA and the Defence Ministry, has been understandably occupied with the challenging evacuation of Indian nationals. In addition, the Government’s decision to evacuate the entire embassy staff and security personnel first has made it more difficult to facilitate those Indians, as well as long-term visa holding Afghan Sikhs and Hindus needing to return. With most of the Indians based in Afghanistan returning home, or expected to soon, the Government must face the larger strategic questions over whether the Indian Embassy was evacuated too early. India had undertaken evacuations during the 1990s too, but then the presence of Indian nationals was not as large and Indian stakes in Afghanistan were not so deeply rooted. In the past 20 years, India has built considerable interests, including major infrastructure projects and ongoing development projects, helped script the Afghan Constitution and conduct of elections, as well as enabled the training and education of the next generation of officials, soldiers and professionals. It seems unfortunate, therefore, that this bank of goodwill came to naught as the Government decided it was safer to pull up stakes, emulating neither the U.S. and European countries who relocated their diplomatic outposts to the Kabul airport, nor Russia, China and Iran, which decided not to vacate their embassies there.

Going forward, the Government must explain how it expects to approach the new regime in Afghanistan once it is formed. It is still unclear whether this will be merely a repeat of the brutal regime seen from 1996-2001, or whether negotiations are under way for a more inclusive coalition, including several former leaders of Afghanistan, will fructify into a transitional government. The rise of Taliban power and that of the group’s Pakistani backers is a particular security concern as groups such as the LeT and the JeM could use Afghanistan as a staging base for terror attacks in India. Finally, the Government must explain how it will approach the Afghan people, especially those whose lives could be in danger, including Embassy staff and associates, those working on Indian projects, minorities, including those Islamic sects such as the Hazaras who have been targeted, as well as women. A more open, liberalised visa policy, and more swift processing of the newly launched special “e-Emergency X-Misc” visas would reassure both Afghans and the international community that India’s exit from Afghanistan is not permanent, and it will retain its traditional and historic interests in the country and its people, despite adverse events there.


CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
-------------------------------------------

1.Contingency (N)- a provision for a possible event or circumstance.

2. Takeover (N)- the act of seizing and taking control of something. कब्जाकरना

3. Embassy (N)- (the official building of) a group of officials (diplomats) and their head (ambassador), who represent their government in a foreign country

4. Personnel (N)- the people employed in an organization or for a service. कर्मचारी वर्ग

5. Stake (N)- a share or a financial involvement in something such as a business.

6. Come To Naught (Idiom)- To be totally unsuccessful or amount to nothing.

7. Emulate (V)- to equal or approach equality with. अनुसरण करना

8. Fructify (V)- to produce a good or useful result.

9. Sect (N)- a group of people who have a particular set of religious or political beliefs. A sect has often broken away from a larger group

Join @Englishkendra for relevant study material of English.

Happy learning! ओपन / कमेंट

2021-08-21 07:19:50 Join @Englishkendra for relevant study material of English.

Happy learning! ओपन / कमेंट

2021-08-21 07:19:50 The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 21st AUGUST

Faith and marriage: On anti-conversion laws

A regressive and patently unconstitutional feature of recent anti-conversion laws enacted by different States is the criminalisation of inter-faith marriages by treating them as a means to convert one of the parties from one religion to another. While anti-conversion laws, euphemistically called in some States as laws on ‘freedom of religion’, have always sought to criminalise conversions obtained through fraud, force or allurement, the recent enactments or amendments have created “conversion by marriage” as one of the illegal forms of conversion. In its interim order protecting parties to inter-religious marriages from needless harassment, the Gujarat HC has made it clear that the “rigours” of the State’s amendments introduced earlier this year will not apply to marriages that do not involve any fraud, force or allurement. So, it has stopped the initiation of criminal proceedings against those who have married across religious faiths, unless there was any of these illegal elements. A Bench has rejected the State government’s attempt to adopt an innocent reading of the provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Act, 2021, by claiming that inter-faith marriages that did not involve fraud or coercion and leading to conversion would not attract the penal provisions. The argument is obviously contrary to the wording of the amendment, which makes conversion “by marriage” or “by getting a person married” or “by aiding a person to get married” an offence. The court said, “A plain reading of Section 3 would indicate that any conversion on account of marriage is also prohibited.”

It is regrettable that Hindutva votaries continue to believe in medieval-minded laws aimed at curbing inter-faith marriages. Despite clear Supreme Court rulings that it is no more constitutional to police private lives and beliefs, sections in the polity still believe that inter-religious marriages are aimed at religious conversion, that they have an adverse impact on public order and invariably involve coercion or deceit. It was always clear to the secular minded and legal experts that constitutional courts will not see such marriages as events that impinge on public order, and that making their solemnisation a ground for prosecution under anti-conversion laws was unlikely to be upheld. It is clear that the Gujarat law’s provisions “interfere with the intricacies of marriage” and an individual’s right to choice, thereby infringing Article 21 of the Constitution. The principle that the right to marry a person of one’s choice is integral to Article 21 flows from the verdict in Shafin Jahan vs Asokan. The order stalling criminal action against those entering into a valid inter-faith marriage constitutes a significant judicial pushback against disconcerting attempts by various States to foment communal divides through dubious legislation.


CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
--------------------------------------------

1. Patently (Adv)- clearly; without doubt. स्पष्ट तौर पर

2. Euphemistically (Adv)- in a way that makes something embarrassing or unpleasant seem more acceptable than it really is.

3. Conversion (N)- the act or process of changing from one form, system or use to another

4. Rigours (N)- the quality of being strict (कड़ाई, सख्‍़ती, कठोरता)

5. Coercion (N)- the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats. दबाव

6. Invariably (Adj)- in every case or on every occasion; always.

7. Impinge On (Phrasal Verb)- to have a bad effect on something.

8. Solemnisation (N)- the public performance of a sacrament or solemn ceremony with all appropriate ritual.

9. Intricacies (N)- the complicated parts or details of something. जटिलता, कठिनता

10. Pushback (N)- resistance to a change that has been introduced.

11. Disconcerting (Adj.)- making someone feel uncertain and uncomfortable or worried

12. Foment (V)- to cause trouble or violence and make people fight each other or the government ओपन / कमेंट

2021-08-19 05:36:36 THE HINDU EDITORIAL - 19th AUGUST Aftermath: On Afghanistan under the Taliban As nations come to terms with the abrupt change of regime in Afghanistan, they will seek answers to many questions about the nature of the new Taliban government that controls… ओपन / कमेंट

2021-08-19 05:34:31 THE HINDU EDITORIAL - 19th AUGUST

Aftermath: On Afghanistan under the Taliban

As nations come to terms with the abrupt change of regime in Afghanistan, they will seek answers to many questions about the nature of the new Taliban government that controls most of the territories. Almost as an emergency measure that reflects the sense of alarm in Afghanistan’s prospects of a stable future, U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson have agreed to hold a virtual G7 leaders’ meeting to discuss a common strategy and approach. Yet, it will be a complex and likely frustrating task for the G7 to reconcile its position on minimum governance norms for Afghanistan with the ground realities of rule by the Taliban. In its May 2021 Foreign Ministers’ communiqué, the G7 noted that “a sustainable, inclusive political settlement would be the only way” to achieve a just and durable peace that benefits all Afghans. To that end, the G7 promised its support to the negotiations in Doha and efforts to convene a high-level conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul. But the sheer audacity of the Taliban takeover and its promise to make Sharia orthodoxy the basis of jurisprudence suggest that Taliban interlocutors attending these parleys may not truly represent the voice of their commanders and administrators on the ground. Similarly, the G7’s enduring aspiration for meaningful participation and inclusion of the voices of women, young people, and those from minority groups, looks to be dashed.

Given that the project of long-term military occupation and regime change has amounted to naught in this country, going forward, the only lever that G7 might have to press for internal change in Afghanistan is foreign aid and, should the circumstances warrant it, sanctions. Indeed, the May 2021 communiqué noted that “Current and future support to the Afghan government relies on the adherence to the principles set out in the Afghanistan Partnership Framework and progress towards the outcomes in the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework II as decided upon at the November 2020 Geneva donors’ conference”. Yet, if there is one signal that the conditional norms elucidated by the G7 will be brazenly disregarded by the Taliban it is that they have already been disregarded to the extent that the Islamist group has been linked to numerous attacks on civilians, including targeted campaigns against women in public life, human rights activists, and media persons. This means calls for eschewing violence and allowing unhindered access to humanitarian aid may fall on deaf ears unless there is a punitive element that lends teeth to such demands. If the Taliban have distilled past strategic learnings, it might hold out hope that this time around, they will limit the damage they inflict on the fabric of mainstream Afghan society, if nothing for fear that the backlash that it will bring from the global community will once again break their grip on power.


CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
------------------------------------------- ओपन / कमेंट

2021-08-18 06:21:12 The Hindu Editorial with Vocab - 18th AUGUST

Doctor at the door: On doorstep health-care delivery

Long before the pandemic struck, health experts had warned of a health epidemic — one that involved non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The last two years, however, managed to expose the frailties of even robust health systems in the country that saw not one, but two debilitating waves of COVID-19. It also exposed the chinks in what was traditionally believed to be the armour of health care — institution-based treatment. When access to these institutions was severed all of a sudden, States had to introspect about how they could bolster their health-care set-up in ways that would protect it from such disruptions. For Tamil Nadu, this introspection resulted in its ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ scheme, a community-based intervention to tackle and treat NCDs and to address the crucial issues of prevention and early detection. Inaugurated by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin earlier this month, it involves a tentative budget in excess of ₹250 crore. It includes population-based screening for the 18-plus population for 10 common conditions — hypertension, diabetes, oral, cervical and breast cancers, TB, leprosy, chronic kidney disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, mental health — and the delivery of hypertension/diabetes drugs to patients aged 45-plus besides to those with restricted or poor mobility. The State, which has a high burden of NCDs, also acted on data that indicated very low community control rates for hypertension (7.3%) and diabetes (10.8%) among patients.

Once the tenacious link between NCDs such as uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension, and COVID-19 outcomes was apparent, it became clear that control of these health parameters was paramount and would necessitate uninterrupted access to health-care services. According to the India: Health of the Nation’s States report, in 2016, 55% of the total disease burden in India was caused by NCDs, with the burden of NCDs increasing across all States from 1990 to 2016. The disruption of access to health care during the pandemic did affect compliance to drug regimens, and led to uncontrolled disease, with implications for quality of life too. It is ideal that nations prepare themselves to face further epidemics that might occur and cause similar disruptions in society by arming themselves to overcome such drawbacks. The Tamil Nadu initiative is a well-meaning notch in trying to address this; the efficacy of its chosen method of door delivery of drugs has been proven earlier with the supervised drug regimen, or DOTS therapy used in tuberculosis control. Ultimately, the success of a well-conceived programme rests in the proper implementation of each of its components. If Tamil Nadu is able to demonstrate, with this scheme, that it is possible to maintain the continuum of care even in the most trying of circumstances, then, here is a model that could inspire other States to follow suit.


CREDIT SOURCE - THE HINDU
-------------------------------------------

1. Frailty (N)- an imperfection or blemish. कमजोरी, दोष

2. Debilitating (Adj)- (of a disease or condition) making someone very weak and infirm.

3. Chink (N)- a small narrow opening (दरार)

4. Tenacious (Adj)- stubborn or persistent.

5. Paramount (Adj)- more important than anything else. सर्वोपरि

6. Disruption (N)- disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process. विघटन

7. Compliance (N)- the act of obeying an order, rule, or request. अनुपालन

8. Notch (N)- a level on a scale of quality

9. Efficacy (N)- the ability to produce a desired or intended result. प्रभावकारिता

10. Continuum (N)- something that changes in character gradually or in very slight stages without any clear dividing points

Join @Englishkendra for relevant study material of English.

Happy learning! ओपन / कमेंट