THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- October 10, 2016- Topic 1
India needs a different
approach to grow its economy and must remove bottlenecks so that foreign investors
can operate in the country just as its own corporates expand their global
footprint, Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said during his India visit last week. His remarks may appear out of sync with the official
discourse on India’s recent economic performance, especially the liberalisation of foreign direct
investment and record inflows clocked since the Modi government was sworn in.
Mr. Lee’s concerns, however, don’t stem from FDI policy per
se, but two intertwined reform
showpieces of the NDA — one abandoned after hot pursuit in its first year and
another that remains a work in progress. These are amendments to the land
acquisition law and improvements in the ease of doing business, respectively.
Indian officials told business leaders accompanying the Singapore Prime
Minister that they are free to invest in India if they can, on their own,
acquire the land to set up shop on. As Mr. Lee pointed out, that makes
investing in India virtually impossible — industrial parks that Singapore had
proposed in the past remain non-starters. The Centre may not be used to such
public plain-speaking, even from Western leaders with longer reform wish lists,
but it must take the Prime Minister’s cue for introspection and course
correction.
Modernising India’s land
laws was high on the government’s agenda in 2014-15; an ordinance was
promulgated thrice to effect necessary changes till Parliament could pass a
law. Global investors were assured that land acquired under the ordinance would
be safe from any subsequent changes to the law. But the Centre wilted in the
face of Opposition resistance. A model land-leasing law formulated by the Niti
Aayog was mooted for States to adopt instead, but a billion-dollar plant is
unlikely to come up on leased foundations. Since then, a proposed nuclear plant
has moved out from Gujarat owing to land acquisition problems, India’s largest
FDI proposal from South Korea’s Posco is all but off, and job creation has hit
a five-year low. India moved up 12 places in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing
Business index last year and may rise further. But the index is only based on
speed of paperwork in Mumbai and Delhi, where there is little space for big new
industries; such rankings don’t directly translate into more FDI. The Prime
Minister has set a target for India to reach the top 50 ranks in the index, but
getting a construction permit online is no good if large tracts of land cannot
be provided job-creating investment. If the idea to bury the land reform was to
secure farmers’ votes and, in the process, alternative jobs are not created for
the young and those who want to move out of agriculture, castles in the air are
all that will be built.
Vocabulary
Discourse: written or spoken communication or debate.
Example: The language of political discourse
Synonyms: discussion, conversation, talk, dialogue, conference, debate
Bottleneck: a point of congestion or
blockage, in particular.
Example: I reached Chicago at 5: 30 p.m. And spent an hour - only an hour - making
my way through America's biggest bottleneck
Intertwined: twist or twine together.
Example: A net made of cotton intertwined with other natural fibers
Synonyms: entwine, interweave, interlace, twist, braid, plait, splice
Pursuit: the action of following or pursuing someone or something.
Example: The cat crouched in the grass in pursuit of a bird
Synonyms: striving toward, quest after/for, search for, aim
Cue: a long, straight, tapering wooden rod for striking the ball in pool,
billiards, snooker, etc..
Example: When the cue hits the object ball it will bend the tangent line back away
from the corner.
Synonyms: signal, sign, indication, prompt, reminder, nod, word, gesture
Introspection: the examination or observation
of one's own mental and emotional processes.
Example: Quiet introspection can be extremely valuable
Synonyms: self-analysis, self-examination, soul-searching, introversion
Promulgate: promote or make widely known
(an idea or cause).
Example: These objectives have to be promulgated within the organization
Synonyms: make known, make public, publicize, spread
Wilted: of a plant, leaf, or flower become limp through heat, loss of water, or
disease; droop.
Example: At this time, chill treatment seedlings were severely wilted with extensive
leaf rolling characteristic of water-stressed maize.
Synonyms: droop, sag, become limp, flop, wither, shrivel
up
Resistance: the refusal to accept or
comply with something; the attempt to prevent something by action or argument.
Example: She put up no resistance to being led away
Synonyms: opposition to, hostility to, refusal to accept
Mooted: raise a question or topic for discussion; suggest an idea
or possibility.
Example: Sylvia needed a vacation, and a trip to Ireland had been mooted
Synonyms: raise, bring up, broach, mention, put forward, introduce, advance
