THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-April 10, 2017- Topic 1

SC order on liquor ban

None for the road

The liquor trade, as the Supreme Court has emphasised, is indeed res extra commercium, something outside the idea of commerce. It exists solely at the discretion of policymakers without any concomitant fundamental right that other businesses enjoy. The point was cited by the court while ordering that liquor sales be prohibited within 500 metres from national and State highways. 

In a different sense, it only underscores how much the executive is, and ought to be, involved in policy-making on the subject. Imposing restrictions on the location of liquor outlets, applying them in a differential manner to vends, hotels and standalone bars is undoubtedly an executive decision. It is possible to argue that the executive will be lax in enforcement, corrupt in licensing or too revenue-centric to worry about the social costs of its decisions. However, is that reason enough for the judiciary to impose norms without regard to the problems that they may give rise to? Frankly, the answer is no. The court’s ill-considered order is wholly concerned with the availability of liquor — to the point that it bans sale of liquor on highway stretches even within city and town limits, where police checks are quite common — and does not touch upon strengthening the enforcement of the law against drunk driving. With the same moral outrage against high fatalities on our roads, and with much less economic cost, the court could have ordered stricter patrolling on highways and regular check-points.

The order has come down like a sledgehammer not only on the liquor vends and the hospitality sector but also on the revenues of State governments, on the business of hotels and bars, and the tourism potential of many parts of the country. The inventive responses of State governments and the industry give an idea of how much they are affected by it — and indeed how absurd the court’s order is. States are downgrading highways into ‘urban roads’ or ‘major district roads’, moves fraught with consequences as safety and quality norms may be compromised; local bodies, which now have to maintain them, may not find the required resources. Some luxury hotels situated on highways are creating alternative entrances to claim that their bars are located beyond 500 metres. An enterprising owner has built a maze of sorts to create a longer walking distance from a highway to his bar. It is not clear how the 500-metre distance is to be measured — as a straight line from the highway in any direction or along the paths leading to an outlet. One may denounce or laugh away these moves to circumvent the order; but they can be also seen as desperate responses from those fearing loss of income, jobs and business. The court should have the wisdom and the humility to examine the consequences of its order and do the necessary thing — amend it.

Vocabulary

Indeed: used to emphasize a statement or response confirming something already suggested.

Example: It was not expected to last long, and indeed it took less than three weeks

Synonyms: as expected, to be sure, in fact, in point of fact

Discretion: the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation.

Example: It is up to local authorities to use their discretion in setting the charges

Synonyms: choice, option, preference, disposition, volition, pleasure

Concomitant: naturally accompanying or associated.

Example: She loved travel, with all its concomitant worries

Synonyms: attendant, accompanying, associated, related, connected

Stretch: an act of stretching one's limbs or body.

Example: I got up and had a stretch

Synonyms: reach out, hold out, extend, outstretch, proffer, outreach

Outrage: an extremely strong reaction of anger, shock, or indignation.

Example: Her voice trembled with outrage

Synonyms: indignation, fury, anger, rage, disapproval, wrath

Fatalities: an occurrence of death by accident, in war, or from disease.

Example: Shooting was heard and there were fatalities

Synonyms: death, casualty, mortality, victim, fatal accident

Stricter: demanding that rules concerning behavior are obeyed and observed.

Example: My father was very strict

Synonyms: stern, severe, harsh, uncompromising, authoritarian

Sledgehammer: a large, heavy hammer used for such jobs as breaking rocks and driving in fence posts.

Example: We succeeded in moving some rocks, breaking up several large ones with sledgehammers before we broke the handles on Dave and Stan's largest hammers.

Absurd: an idea or suggestion wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate.

Example: The allegations are patently absurd

Synonyms: preposterous, ridiculous, ludicrous, farcical, laughable

Fraught: causing or affected by great anxiety or stress.

Example: There was a fraught silence

Synonyms: anxious, worried, stressed, upset, distraught

Circumvent: find a way around an obstacle.

Example: However, those inventive motorcyclists have managed to circumvent the obstacle.