THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-December 19, 2016- Topic 1
That the winter session would be washed
out had been clear for a while. With the Opposition parties mustering all their
disruptive tactics to stall the functioning of both Houses, insisting on
maximalist demands on just how the debate on demonetisation should be
structured, hopes for any substantive work had diminished. In the event, the
session also left a hysterical afterglow, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi
telling a gathering in Gujarat that he had to speak his mind in a “jan sabha”
(people’s meet) as the Opposition wouldn’t let him do so in Parliament; and
Rahul Gandhi, vice-president of the Congress party, complaining that he was not
allowed to make earth-shattering disclosures on the floor of the House, but
then keeping them close to his chest outside. With theatrics such as these,
both the Government and the Opposition have left a question hanging in the
politically charged air: what was the point? What did either side gain by
bringing Indian parliamentary democracy’s most deliberative process to a
grinding halt? Just two bills were passed, one of them a money bill that did
not need the Rajya Sabha’s nod. According to the think tank PRS Legislative
Research, less than 1 per cent of the 330 questions listed for Question Hour in
the Rajya Sabha were answered orally. The Lok Sabha looked better only in
comparison, with 11 per cent.
Given what was at stake in the session,
the abandonment of the spirit of give-and-take that keeps the legislative
schedule humming was baffling. The government has staked much political capital
on key financial reforms that need cooperation across the aisles. It lost the
chance to pass bills critical to the April 1, 2017, deadline for the rollout of
the Goods and Services Tax. It also failed to end the session on a note of
federal cooperation to set up the shift to Budget day to February 1 from next
year. The Opposition, for its part, has clearly taken its cue from the BJP’s
playbook. By forcing adjournments while in opposition, it was successful in
reinforcing the impression of a policy paralysis in the second UPA government.
But the Congress has a point to prove other than what the BJP did then. To
re-establish itself as a viable option for voters, the Congress needs to share
its vision and road map in the Rahul Gandhi era. The floor of the House, with a
tempered debate and questioning as a constructive party of opposition, is a key
venue for that. Basic self-interest demands that government and opposition
avert the possibility of the Budget session meeting the same fate as this one.
Vocabulary
Mustering: assemble troops, especially for inspection or in preparation
for battle.
Example: There will be no holding back by Strange, then, when he musters his troops
in September.
Synonyms: assemble, mobilize, rally, raise, summon, gather
together.
Disruptive: causing or tending to cause
disruption.
Example: Disruptive and delinquent children
Synonyms: troublesome, unruly, badly behaved, rowdy, disorderly
Maximalist: a person who holds extreme views and is not prepared to compromise.
Example: As the referendum approached, longstanding splits between the minimalists
and maximalists within the republican movement became significant.
Substantive: having a firm basis in reality
and therefore important, meaningful, or considerable.
Example: There is no substantive evidence for the efficacy of these drugs
Diminish: made smaller or less.
Example: A diminished role for local government
Earth-shattering: very important, momentous, or
traumatic.
Example: Tell me this earth-shattering news of yours
Deliberative: relating to or intended for
consideration or discussion.
Example: A deliberative assembly
Abandonment: the action or fact of
abandoning or being abandoned.
Example: She had a feeling of utter abandonment and loneliness
Humming: make a low, steady continuous sound like that of a bee.
Example: The computers hummed
Synonyms: purr, drone, murmur, buzz, thrum, whine, whir, throb
Baffling: totally bewilder or perplex.
Example: An unexplained occurrence that baffled everyone
Synonyms: puzzling, bewildering, perplexing, mystifying, bemusing
Avert: turn away one's eyes or thoughts.
Example: She averted her eyes during the more violent scenes
Synonyms: turn aside, turn
away