THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- November 10, 2016- Topic 1
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s move to
curb unaccounted cash, or black money, circulating in the Indian economy by withdrawing the highest-value currency
notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 as legal tender within three-odd hours of the announcement, is a bold
one. He invoked provocative imagery to explain the measure — of corrupt
officials stashing kilos of ill-gained cash under their mattresses, and such
illicit black money fuelling inflation as well as terrorism. He pointed out how
difficult it is for honest taxpayers to buy a house as the real estate sector
seldom operates without a cash component, some of which finds its way to
political funding. The increase in the circulation of these notes in the past
five years has been disproportionate to the economy’s growth. The introduction
of new Rs.500 and Rs.2,000 notes, the government argues, would not only check
counterfeit currency, a problem that has assumed serious dimensions, but also
purge India’s economy of the black wealth amassed in the form of high-value
notes. Any decision like this needs to be sudden, and it is not surprising that
it has caused hardship as people scramble to get notes of smaller denomination
for daily expenditure. The only defence for this is that the larger public
purpose outweighs the immediate difficulties.
Having promised during the 2014 election
campaign to bring back black money worth lakhs of crores supposedly stashed
abroad, the NDA government has been under pressure to do something dramatic.
The two amnesty schemes it launched over the past year, including one for
foreign assets, didn’t yield anything near the 23.2 per cent of GDP that the
World Bank had estimated India’s shadow economy to be in 2007. Today that would
be nearly $479 billion in unaccounted wealth, according to rating agency
Crisil. While there will be pain and confusion in the short term for common
people and the economy, a disruptive measure was perhaps the only way to shake
up the system to a new compliance normal. But the Centre must ensure that no
poor person is saddled with old, useless notes due to the lack of official
identity documents or a bank account, and avoid putting to disadvantage older
citizens unable to visit a bank repeatedly to exchange high-value notes. It
should find ways to check black money parked in benami properties (possibly
through a digital land and realty inventory) and gold. There must also be
administrative and electoral reforms to advance digital payments and eliminate
the prospect of the new currency regime spawning the ghost economy afresh.
Vocabulary
Curb: a check or restraint on something.
Example: Curbs on the powers of labor unions
Synonyms: restraint, restriction, check, brake, rein, control, limitation, limit
Tender: showing gentleness and concern or sympathy.
Example: He was being so kind and tender
Synonyms: caring, kind, kindly, kindhearted, softhearted, tenderhearted
Provocative: causing annoyance, anger, or another strong reaction, especially
deliberately.
Example: A provocative article
Synonyms: annoying, irritating, exasperating, infuriating, maddening, vexing
Stash: store (something) safely and secretly in a specified place.
Example: Their wealth had been stashed away in Swiss banks
Synonyms: store, stow, pack, load, cache, hide, conceal, secrete
Seldom: not often; rarely.
Example: Islay is seldom visited by tourists
Synonyms: rarely, infrequently, hardly (ever), scarcely
(ever), almost never
Counterfeit: made in exact imitation of something valuable or important with the
intention to deceive or defraud.
Example: Two men were remanded on bail on a charge of passing counterfeit $10 bills
Synonyms: fake, faked, bogus, forged, imitation, spurious, substitute
Scramble: a difficult or hurried clamber up or over something.
Example: An undignified scramble over the wall
Synonyms: clamber, climb, trek
Dramatic: of or relating to drama or the performance or study of drama.
Example: The dramatic arts
Synonyms: considerable, substantial, sizable, goodly, fair, marked, noticeable, measurable
Disruptive: causing or tending to cause disruption.
Example: Disruptive and delinquent children
Synonyms: troublesome, unruly, badly
behaved, rowdy, disorderly
Spawning: (of a fish, frog, mollusk, crustacean, etc.) Release or deposit eggs.
Example: The fish spawn among fine-leaved plants