THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-December 22, 2016- Topic 1
The blockade of the
national highways leading to the Manipur valley, called by the United Naga
Council (UNC), has been in place since November 1. This has severely affected life in the State, with
shortages and escalating costs of essential supplies such as fuel and food,
even as demonetisation has exacerbated problems. Blockades like this are not
new to Manipur. In 2011, there was initially a hundred-day-plus
blockade enforced by Kuki-led groups, and countered later by Naga groups,
which together had a debilitating effect on life in Manipur. This time the
blockade is in place to oppose the creation of new districts by the Okram Ibobi
Singh government. On December 9 it issued a gazette notification for the
creation of seven new districts by bifurcating seven (of a total of nine)
districts. This decision had as much to do with long-pending demands — in
particular, for a new Kuki-majority district to be carved out of the larger
Senapati hill district — as with easing administrative access to far-flung
areas from the district headquarters. With State Assembly elections around the
corner, the decision by the Congress-led government was also a desperate
measure to woo the hill residents. While residents and groups in the new
districts have welcomed the decision, the UNC has protested, alleging that
areas with a Naga population have been divided and that the lack of consultation
is a violation of commitments made by both the Centre and the State in various
memoranda of understanding.
Already, just as in 2011,
counter-blockades have been called by other groups, this time in the
Meitei-dominated valley, and there has been violence both in the hills and in
the valley. The State government last month sought the Centre’s assistance to
end the blockade, given that New Delhi has been in peace talks with the
National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah) group that supports the UNC.
While the Centre has sent paramilitary forces to both Nagaland and Manipur, the
inaction in clearing the blockade of the national highways is puzzling. Efforts
to impose a political solution through blockades that cut arterial routes
supplying essential goods to various areas of Manipur are a cynical ploy. Such
action heightens ethnic polarisation and threatens, once again, the fragile
peace in the State. Ideally there should be a dialogue that involves all major
stakeholders — the State government, groups that support redistricting, the UNC
and the Centre. But first, there should be zero tolerance towards all such
blockades.
Vocabulary
Blockade: an act or means of sealing off a place to prevent goods
or people from entering or leaving.
Example: There was a blockade of humanitarian aid
Synonyms: siege, besiegement; barricade, barrier, roadblock, obstacle
Escalating: increase rapidly.
Example: The price of tickets escalated
Synonyms: increase rapidly, soar, rocket, shoot up, mount, spiral, climb
Exacerbated: make a problem, bad situation,
or negative feeling worse.
Example: The forest fire was exacerbated by the lack of rain
Synonyms: aggravate, worsen, inflame, compound, intensify, increase
Debilitating: A disease or condition making someone very weak and infirm.
Example: Debilitating back pain
Flung: throw or hurl forcefully.
Example: He picked up the debris and flung it away
Synonyms: throw, toss, sling, hurl, cast, pitch, lob, chuck, heave
Desperate: feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad
as to be impossible to deal with.
Example: A desperate sadness enveloped Ruth
Synonyms: despairing, hopeless, anguished, distressed, wretched, desolate
Assistance: the provision of money,
resources, or information to help someone.
Example: Plans offering financial assistance to employers
Synonyms: help, aid, support, backing, reinforcement, succor, relief, TLC, intervention
Arterial: a through road.
Example:
Sabotaged arterials
needed for evacuation of civilians