THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- September 23, 2016- Topic 1
That it took 69 years after Independence
for India to merge the Railway
Budget with the Union Budget is an
indication of how difficult it can be to junk colonial-era traditions that may
have outlived their utility. In 1924, when the first Railway Budget was
presented, the Railways entailed more funds than India’s expenditure on all other
aspects of administration combined. So it made sense to present a separate
Budget. That equation changed long ago, and now the Railways’ outlay is just 6
per cent of the total expenditure proposed in the Union Budget for this year.
In fact, revenues from the domestic aviation business are more than the
Railways’ traffic earnings. Nearly Rs.2.5 lakh crore has been planned this year
as defence expenditure, but it found little mention in the Finance Minister’s
Budget speech. Yet, the ritual of
the Rail Budget has continued even
as the economy opened up over the past 25 years. A key reason that it lingered
so long is India’s fractured polity and the tendency of coalition partners to
demand Railways as a juicy portfolio with its possibilities for populist posturing
and patronage. With the luxury of a majority in the Lok Sabha and a Railway
Minister like Suresh Prabhu who has refused to use the Rail Budget as a
launchpad for new trains and railway lines, the NDA has thrown its weight
behind a plan that takes away the annual temptation to make the Railways a
vote-magnet.
India’s annual economic jamboree will
now be over in two days — the tabling of the Economic Survey followed by the
Union Budget — instead of three. Railway Ministers will no longer need to conjure
up fancy and often regurgitated promises about new, improved services for
passengers without charging them the operational costs of reaching their
destination. The pressure to hold commuter fares has skewed the Railways’
freight rates, year after year. Indeed, the change is already being felt;
tweaking of tariffs outside the Budget has begun. Consider the changes in coal
freight and the introduction of flexible pricing on premium passenger trains.
However, the Centre needs to now seriously consider setting up an independent
tariff regulator to depoliticise fares. New lines and trains should be
determined by economic viability rather than the constituencies covered.
Initiatives such as demand-driven clone trains must be deployed to boost
earnings, and the Rs.37,000-crore tab on social obligations, including
concessional ticketing, must be borne by the exchequer. The Railways’ accounts
need to be cleaned up and made bankable. Scrapping the Rail Budget is a good
starting point to fix the fading utility. Bringing it back safely on track will
take a lot more doing, and undoing.
Vocabulary
Merge: combine or cause to combine to form a single entity.
Example: The utility companies are cutting costs and merging with other companies
Outlived: of a person live longer than another person.
Example: Women generally outlive men
Entailed: involve something as a necessary or inevitable part or
consequence.
Example: A situation that entails considerable risks
Synonyms: involve, necessitate, require, need, demand, call
for, mean, imply
Lingered: stay in a place longer than necessary, typically because of a reluctance to
leave.
Example: She lingered in the yard, enjoying the warm sunshine
Synonyms: wait around, stay, remain, wait, stay put, loiter, dawdle, dally
Tendency: an inclination toward a particular characteristic or type of behavior.
Example: For students, there is a tendency to socialize in the evenings
Synonyms: propensity, proclivity, proneness, aptness, likelihood
Patronage: the support given by a patron.
Example: The arts could no longer depend on private patronage
Synonyms: sponsorship, backing, funding, financing, promotion, assistance, support
Jamboree: a large celebration or party, typically a lavish and boisterous one.
Example: The film industry's annual jamboree in Cannes
Conjure: make something appear unexpectedly
or seemingly from nowhere as if by magic.
Example: Anne conjured up a most delicious homemade stew
Synonyms: produce, make appear, materialize, summon
Commuter: a person who travels some distance to work on a regular basis.
Example: The company provides showers and lockers for bicycle commuters
Synonyms: daily traveler, traveler, passenger, straphanger
Tweaking: twist or pull something sharply.
Example: He tweaked the boy's ear
Synonyms: pull, jerk, tug, twist, twitch, pinch, squeeze
Freight: goods transported by truck, train, ship, or aircraft.
Example: According to transport experts, one freight train carries the equivalent of
75 lorry loads, reducing road congestion and pollution levels.
Synonyms: goods, cargo, load, consignment, delivery, shipment, merchandise
Fading: gradually grow faint and disappear.
Example: The noise faded away
Synonyms: dim, grow dim, grow
faint, fail, dwindle, die away, wane, disappear