THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- November 29, 2017- Topic 2

A new phase? Nepal's historic vote

Nepal voted on Sunday in the first phase of parliamentary elections under its new Constitution of 2015 and with the electoral battle lines redrawn in a recently altered political landscape. The first round was mostly concentrated in the upper hill regions, with the rest of the country scheduled to vote on December 7. Uniquely for Nepal’s highly fragmented party politics, these elections witness a direct battle between two fronts.

 The first, the “democratic alliance”, is led by the Nepali Congress and includes the former Panchayat parties and Madhesi groups; the second, the “left alliance”, brings together, in a surprise agreement hammered out in early October, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre). On the face of it, this is an electoral battle between the forces belonging to the centre-right and the centre-left, but to reduce it to an ideological battle would be misleading. The NC, the UML and the Maoists have been in power at various points in the last decade and have done little to distinguish themselves by way of implementing socio-economic policies or in terms of performance. The Constitution-writing process was completed in far too many fits and starts largely due to short-sighted battles for one-upmanship among these parties in Kathmandu since 2008. Populism dominates the ideological positions of the major parties and the politics of patronage has governed their engagement with the people. The consequence of this has been lack of movement on key issues facing the underdeveloped nation-state.

One such issue that dominated the political discourse in the last half-decade has been the need for decentralisation and representation of the marginalised communities. Madhesis and janajatis (tribals) have continued to claim that their demands for adequate state restructuring and federalism were not met in the new Constitution. The new electoral alliances have subsumed such differences — with the Maoists, who were willing to grant such demands for amendments to the new Constitution, joining hands with the UML, which is strongly opposed to any concessions. Similarly, the Naya Shakti Party, a fledgling socialist party, has broken away from the left alliance and aligned itself with the NC despite significant differences over state-restructuring and other issues. The political flux has meant that vital issues of economic development have remained largely unaddressed, belying hopes that Nepal’s transition from a monarchy to a republic would foreground the people’s concerns. The clear contest, for the first time, between two pre-poll alliances may finally give an ideological and political shape to the republican polity as a battle of ideas, and mark a break from the years of squabbling over positions of power in Kathmandu. Clearly, the voters are not cynical: the turnout in the first phase on November 26 was estimated to be 65%. The politicians must now deliver.

Vocabulary

Redrawn: draw or draw up again or differently.

Example: A judge forced Los Angeles to redraw its districts

Alter: change or cause to change in character or composition, typically in a comparatively small but significant way.

Example: Eliot was persuaded to alter the passage

Synonyms: change, make changes to, make different, make alterations to, adjust

Concentrate: focus one's attention or mental effort on a particular object or activity.

Example: She couldn't concentrate on the movie

Synonyms: focus, direct, center, centralize; focus on, pay attention to

Fragment: a small part broken or separated off something.

Example: Small fragments of pottery, glass, and tiles

Synonyms: piece, bit, particle, speck, chip, shard, sliver, splinter, shaving

Hammer: hit or beat something with a hammer or similar object.

Example: They are made by heating and hammering pieces of iron

Synonyms: beat, forge, shape, form, mold, fashion, make

Ideological: based on or relating to a system of ideas and ideals, especially concerning economic or political theory and policy.

Example: The ideological struggle that underpinned the cold war

Distinguish: recognize or treat someone or something as different.

Example: The child is perfectly capable of distinguishing reality from fantasy

Synonyms: differentiate, tell apart, discriminate between, tell the difference between

Consequence: a result or effect of an action or condition.

Example: Many have been laid off from work as a consequence of the administration's policies

Synonyms: result, upshot, outcome, effect, repercussion, ramification, corollary

Patronage: the support given by a patron.

Example: The arts could no longer depend on private patronage

Synonyms: sponsorship, backing, funding, financing, promotion, assistance, support

Adequate: satisfactory or acceptable in quality or quantity.

Example: This office is perfectly adequate for my needs

Synonyms: sufficient, enough, requisite; acceptable, passable, reasonable

Concession: a thing that is granted, especially in response to demands; a thing conceded.

Example: The strikers returned to work having won some concessions

Synonyms: compromise, allowance, exception

Flux: continuous change.

Example: The whole political system is in a state of flux

Synonyms: continuous change, changeability, variability, inconstancy

Transition: the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

Example: Students in transition from one program to another

Synonyms: change, passage, move, transformation, conversion, metamorphosis

Squabble: quarrel noisily over a trivial matter.

Example: The boys were squabbling over a ball

Synonyms: quarrel, argue, bicker, fall out, disagree, have words, dispute