The knife attack in the southern French city of Nice on Thursday that killed three people and injured many more has left the country, which has barely recovered from the beheading of a schoolteacher in a Paris suburb by an 18-year-old Chechen two weeks ago, in shock and pain. The suspected Nice attacker, a 21-year-old Tunisian who is now in hospital with injuries, killed two, including an elderly woman, in a church; the other escaped to a pub nearby but later died of injuries. France, home to Europe’s largest Muslim community, has particularly been hit by Islamist terrorism in recent years. Thursday’s incident, which occurred in the context of the controversy over satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s decision to republish Prophet Mohammed’s caricatures, is the latest in a series of terror attacks in the country in the last eight years that have killed more than 200. France’s agony and anger are understandable and its leaders have repeatedly said they would not give in to threats from terrorists. But the tragic reality is that jihadists continue to strike, taking innocent lives. Each time, it serves as a reminder that neither the government’s preventive measures, that include credible intelligence gathering and deradicalisation efforts, nor its combative postures work in ending this terror run. Needless to say, these attacks are driving a wedge between France’s already polarised communities, feeding into the far-right Islamophobic political narrative.
An implacable security response is an imperative of any counter-terrorism strategy. But it is important to understand the enemy. The Islamist terrorists, those who are inspired by the ideology of organisations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, see the world as an arena of a clash of civilisations. Driven by a perverted interpretation of religion, they are ready to unleash violence against anybody who does not subscribe to their worldview. The fight against jihadists — a minuscule minority among the world’s Muslims but a potent threat to societies given their embrace of violence and a vicious ideology — should be mindful of not allowing them to sow discord on the basis of religious identities. This is the biggest challenge before the French President, Emmanuel Macron. Mr. Macron, who earlier this month said “Islam is in crisis”, should lead a united response to terrorism that does not posit French values against any belief system. The fight is for civilisational values, for democracy, secularism, freedom, and equality against radical Islamism, a medieval ideology that has equipped itself with modern weapons. It is important for the world that France wins this fight.
- descend into (verb) –उतरना- decline, degenerate, deteriorate, slide, fall/drop.
- civilisational (adjective) –सभ्यतागत- relating to civilisation (culture, customs, way of life).
- chaos (noun) –अराजकता- disorder, disarray, turmoil, disorganization, disruption.
- behead (verb) – cut off the head of, decapitate, to remove the head of.
- suburb (noun) – उपनगर--outlying district, residential area, outskirts.
- context (noun) – circumstances, conditions, situation.
- satirical (adjective) – mocking, ironic, sarcastic/ridiculing.
- prophet (noun) – a person who is believed to be sent by God to Earth (to say the things that God wants to tell people).
- caricature (noun) – cartoon.
- agony (noun) – pain, suffering, misery.
- give in (phrasal verb) – surrender, yield, submit/capitulate.
- strike (verb) – attack, affect, afflict.
- serve (verb) – act as, function as.
- credible (adjective) – believable, acceptable, reasonable, convincing.
- intelligence gathering (noun) – the process of collecting (military/politics) information.
- deradicalisation (noun) – the measures taken to motivate someone (with extreme views) to adapt less radical (extreme) views in their political or religious beliefs.
- combative (adjective) – aggressive, belligerent, hostile, bellicose.
- posture (noun) – position, approach, attitude, standpoint, view.
- run (noun) – a continuous spell/period of a particular situation or condition.
- needless to say (phrase) – as you would expect, of course, obviously, clearly.
- drive a wedge between (phrase) – to cause misunderstanding or quarrel between two people and damage their good relationship.
- polarised (adjective) – separated into opposing two.
- feed into (verb) – influence, contribute to.
- far-right (adjective) – relating to the extreme right wing of a political party or group; extremely conservative, rightist.
- Islamophobic (adjective) – (of a person) having an unreasonable fear and dislike of Muslims.
- narrative (noun) – a representation of a particular situation; portrayal/account.
- implacable (adjective) – unappeasable, unpacifiable, unforgiving.
- imperative (noun) – necessary condition, precondition, essential requirement.
- counter-terrorism (noun) – anti-terrorism; actions taken to combat or prevent terrorism.
- ideology (noun) – beliefs, ideas, principles.
- arena (noun) – a place of activity.--अखाड़ा
- drive (verb) – force, compel, prompt, urge, goad.
- perverted (adjective) – abnormal, immoral, wrong, evil/bad.
- interpretation (noun) – understanding, reading, meaning, explanation.
- unleash (verb) – let loose, release, set free.
- subscribe to (verb) – agree with, be in agreement with, support/endorse.
- worldview (noun) – ideology, principles, values, school of thought.
- minuscule (adjective) – very small, insignificant, negligible.
- potent (adjective) – प्रबल--strong, powerful, mighty, dominant.
- given (preposition) – considering, taking into account, bearing in mind.
- embrace (noun) – approval, adoption, integration.
- vicious (adjective) – शातिर-brutal, ferocious, savage, violent, dangerous.
- mindful (adjective) – aware of, conscious of, heedful of.
- sow (verb) – बीज बोना--cause, bring about, give rise to, trigger, provoke.
- discord (noun) –कलह-- strife, conflict, friction, hostility, disagreement, lack of agreement, lack of harmony.
- posit (verb) –किसी स्थिति में रखना-- put forward, set forth, present, propose.
- secularism (noun) – the belief that religion should not have a strong influence in education or other public parts of society.
- equality (noun) – fairness, justness, impartiality.
- radical (adjective) – extreme, extremist, fanatical.
- Islamism (noun) – Islamic fundamentalism; it is defined as the belief that Islam should guide social and political as well as personal life. Islamism is not a form of the Muslim faith. It is, rather, a political ideology.
- medieval (adjective) – primitive, ancient, undeveloped, uncivilized, rough/cruel.
- equip (verb) – prepare, qualify, suit (for a particular task).
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Science of monsoons: On need for better forecast
India needs better science to prepare more effective disaster management plans
The southwest monsoon 2020 has officially drawn to an end with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) declaring a withdrawal of the associated winds and rainfall pattern from India on Wednesday. The over 8% surplus this year has surpassed the IMD’s estimates. For the first time since 2010, India got more than 100% of its long period average (LPA) of 88 cm in consecutive years. Last year the country saw record rainfall of 110% of the LPA, the highest in a quarter century. India has never got over 105% of the LPA in consecutive years in at least 30 years, according to records available since 1988 on the IMD website. Meteorologists often speak of two or three decade ‘epochs’ of rainfall variation. Since 2000, India was in a low patch with several drought years and had barely a handful of above normal or excess rainfall. In that light, the two years of a munificent monsoon could signal a possible return to a rainy epoch. While it could mean more rain, it also implies floods, overflowing dams, landslides and loss of lives. Moreover, surplus rains are not evenly distributed in time and space. Therefore, much like there are attempts to improve flood forecast warnings — especially the short-term ones — there ought to be commensurate efforts by authorities and infrastructure agencies to prepare for the environmental and ecological impact of excess rain. This year the IMD undertook a long-due revision of the onset and withdrawal dates of the monsoon in India. By this reckoning, the monsoon’s normal withdrawal date was October 15. Historically, this has always been a statistical average and the actual withdrawal is usually within a few days of this. However, this year the withdrawal has been extremely delayed. Factoring in these changes must become a key part of a State and city’s disaster management preparedness.The southwest monsoon’s withdrawal also heralds the advent of north-easterly winds that bring in the northeast monsoon to parts of peninsular Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. While significant to the agriculture there, the northeast monsoon contributes 10%-12% of India’s annual rainfall, against the southwest monsoon’s 75%-80%. That, and its limited geographic spread has meant that the northeast monsoon is not showered with as much research attention. However, studies show that northeast monsoon rainfall displays significant variation and climate models are fairly inaccurate in their forecasts of its unfolding over the subcontinent. There have been significant investments in super computing infrastructure to simulate weather as well as to tune forecasts to go beyond just giving rainfall estimates and factor in the potential damage of floods and cyclones. Building on these, scientists must also put in more effort and design research programmes that better analyse the vagaries of the northeast monsoon. Along with more understanding of how climate is changing locally, India needs better science to prepare more effective disaster management plans and improve resilience in a warming world.
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