Dear Readers, to score good marks in English Section first and for most thing is you need to develop your reading skills, while reading a passage you need to highlight the tough words in it and you should know the correct meaning for those words. This will help you understand the passage clearly and also you can learn more new words, it means also you can develop your vocabulary. To help you in this part we have provided a English Vocabulary passage along with meaning, synonyms and usages of hard words in the passage, make use of it. We also providing Important Vocabulary Quiz based on “THE ECONOMIST” and “THE HINDU”
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The Hindu Editorial – 09.02.2018
The 2003 cease fire agreement between India and Pakistan is now alive only in the breach, with violations intensifying in number and much damage to life and livelihood along the border. The drift can only be arrested through high-level political intervention to save this very significant bilateral agreement between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. In the latest incident, four Indian soldiers, including an Army Captain, were killed in the Bhimber Gali sector in cross-border firing that went on through most of Sunday. These casualties are a natural extension of what has been unfolding along the International Boundary as well as the Line of Control for the past several months. As a result, 2017 has turned out to be the worst year since the agreement brought calm to the border 15 years ago. The cease fire agreement had resulted in a dramatic drop in military casualties, and thousands of border residents had been able to return home from temporary shelters on both sides. It is important to see the 2003 agreement in the immediate context of the time. It came just four years after the Kargil war, and soon after India and Pakistan almost went to war following the December 13, 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament. The agreement was historic, and a triumph of diplomacy —Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali announced a unilateral cease fire on the Line of Control on Id; India suggested including the Siachen heights, and the cease fire was eventually extended to the International Boundary. It was the high point of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s premiership, and his successor, Manmohan Singh, heeded the legacy. Now, as the two countries are caught in a spiral of almost daily exchanges of fire along the border, there is a danger of political rhetoric acquiring its own momentum. Already, 2017 has been the worst year along the border since the cease fire came into force, with at least 860 incidents of cease fire violations recorded on the LoC alone. By way of comparison, in 2015 there had been 152 incidents, and in 2016 there were 228. January 2018 recorded the highest number of cease fire violations in a month since 2003, according to estimates. According to data mentioned in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, between January 18 and 22, 14 people including seven civilians were killed and over 70 were injured in firing from the Pakistan side along the International Boundary in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts as well as along the LoC in Poonch and Rajouri districts. Thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their border homes. Peace on the border is difficult to achieve at the tactical level by military leaders. Restoring the ceasefire requires real statesmanship, not brinkmanship.
With Jacob Zuma appearing to be finally willing to resign as President of South Africa, a protracted power struggle could soon draw to a close. Calls for the anti-apartheid veteran’s exit acquired momentum after South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected leader of the African National Congress in December. Litigation in countless cases, the overhang of a 1990s arms deal and actions that undermined judicial investigations have marred Mr.Zuma’s decade-long presidency. But the controversy that has come to define his tenure is the questionable access an immigrant Indian business family, the Guptas, gained with ANC apparatchiks and state institutions, a nexus widely dubbed as ‘state capture’. The financial dealings of the Guptas and their interface with the government in South Africa have tarnished the reputation of top global accountancy and public relations firms. As this succession of scandals dampened the optimism over the post-apartheid democratic transition, the ANC, Africa’s oldest national liberation movement, saw its support plunge in the regional elections of 2016. The party conference in December 2017 was viewed as an opportunity for the ANC leadership to stem the rot before the next general elections, due in 2019. But the narrow win for Mr. Ramaphosa in the party polls over Mr. Zuma’s ex-wife and preferred candidate meant the political transition was always going to be bitter. As his supporters took top positions in the new ANC executive, Mr. Zuma brazened it out in the face of growing demands, within and outside the party and government, for his resignation as President. Over the past decade he has survived many parliamentary motions against his rule, thanks largely to the ANC’s reluctance to rely on the opposition for such a manoeuvre. Recently, the South African Supreme Court criticised the legislature for failing to hold Mr. Zuma to account, giving succour to those calling for his impeachment. But rather than pursue an extreme parliamentary procedure, the ANC leadership has preferred an internal mechanism to ease the President out. Mr. Ramaphosa and other ANC leaders have engaged Mr. Zuma in discussions over a speedy political transition. The postponement of the President’s annual state of the nation address, as also an emergency meeting of the ANC national executive signal that a resolution is in the making. The 2019 elections will be an acid test of the ANC’s credibility. A change of guard could also pull the government away from the populist slide of recent years. An icon of the entrepreneurial spirit of South Africa’s black majority and Nelson Mandela’s preferred successor, Mr. Ramaphosa is a pragmatist. A business tycoon who has also been a trade union leader, he is well-placed to balance business interests and political imperatives. The days ahead may prove crucial for him and the ANC.
1).Breach (Noun)
Definition: an act of breaking or failing to observe a law, agreement, or code of conduct
Synonyms: contravention, violation, breaking, non-observance, infringement, transgression
Usage: a breach of confidence
2). Heeded (Verb)
Definition: pay attention to; take notice of.
Synonyms: pay attention to, take notice of, take note of, pay heed to, be heedful of
Usage: he should have heeded the warnings
3). Rhetoric (Noun)
Definition: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques
Synonyms: oratory, eloquence, power of speech, command of language, expression, way with words
Usage: he is using a common figure of rhetoric, hyperbole
4). Brinkmanship (Noun)
Definition: the art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, especially in politics.
Synonyms: risk, hazard, menace
Usage: in any game of brinkmanship, it is possible that one side will collapse suddenly
5). Flee (Verb)
Definition: run away from a place or situation of danger
Synonyms: run, run away, run off, make a run for it, run for it, take flight, be gone, make off
Usage: to escape the fighting, his family fled from their village
6). Pragmatist (Noun)
Definition: a person who is guided more by practical considerations than by ideals.
Synonyms: guide, dedective
Usage: hardheaded pragmatists firmly rooted in the real world
7). Impeachment (Noun)
Definition: the action of calling into question the integrity or validity of something.
Synonyms: challenge, question, call into question, cast doubt on, raise doubts about
Usage: the prosecutor’s detailed impeachment of the character witness
8). Scandals (Noun)
Definition: an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage
Synonyms: outrageous wrongdoing, outrageous behaviour, immoral behaviour, unethical behaviour
Usage: a bribery scandal involving one of his key supporters
9). Brazened (Verb)
Definition: endure an embarrassing or difficult situation by behaving with apparent confidence and lack of shame
Synonyms: put on a bold front, put a bold face on it, be defiant, be unrepentant, be impenitent
Usage: there was nothing to do but brazen it out
10). Reluctance (Noun)
Definition: unwillingness or disinclination to do something.
Synonyms: unwillingness, disinclination, lack of enthusiasm, hesitation, hesitance, hesitancy
Usage: she sensed his reluctance to continue
11). Manoeuvre (Noun)
Definition: a movement or series of moves requiring skill and care.
Synonyms: operation, exercise, activity, move, movement, action
Usage: snowboarders performed daring manoeuvres on precipitous slopes
12). Succor (Noun)
Definition: assistance and support in times of hardship and distress
Synonyms: aid, help, a helping hand, assistance, ministration, comfort, ease, relief
Usage: the wounded had little chance of succor.
13). Anti-apartheid (Noun)
Definition: opposed to a policy or system of apartheid.
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This post was last modified on February 9, 2018 11:34 am