The Hindu 9 November Vocab

India and Biden: On post-Trump ties

U.S. policy may see more consistency without dependence on personalised summits

While U.S. Democratic Party contender and former Vice-President Joseph Biden still needs to tie up some loose ends for an official seal to his victory, it is clear that New Delhi is now preparing to work with a new U.S. administration. The win is a mixed bag for the government. On the one hand, Mr. Narendra Modi invested considerably in the Trump administration, which included the Houston and Ahmedabad rallies with Mr. Trump, that indicated a virtual endorsement for his re-election. The External Affairs Minister’s snub to the Democrat-led House Foreign Affairs Committee and the invitation to senior Trump officials, for “2+2” talks just before the U.S. elections, also played into the impression of New Delhi expecting a Trump win. On the other hand, Mr. Biden, a long-time supporter of the U.S.-India relationship, brings to his presidency both the comfort of his understanding of foreign policy and the promise of future strategic ties. Foreign policy itself may not be his immediate priority, given the U.S.’s battle with the coronavirus pandemic, and the President-elect’s goal, which he articulated on Sunday, to “heal” rifts in its polity and “restore the soul of America”. However, it is clear that he will make moves to reverse some of the Trump-era policies.

For India, these could include the U.S.’s return to the Paris climate accord, which would help with its energy transformation, and a return to Iran nuclear negotiations, which will facilitate its regional connectivity ambitions. He is unlikely to reverse the Afghan pullout and instead might make it a more measured exit. On China, he is likely to adopt a less confrontational attitude while maintaining a pushback. Where he will no doubt press a hard nerve is on the issues of human rights, Jammu and Kashmir, and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, given a policy paper his campaign released in June 2020 that quoted him as being “disappointed”. But these are more likely to be areas of engagement, and New Delhi should be prepared to hold its own in tough conversations on these sensitive issues. Mr. Biden’s presidency promises a change in leadership style, with broader powers to advisers and process-driven decisions. His belief in building up U.S. traditional trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific alliances might be at odds with America’s more transactional trends. No sudden moves such as Mr. Trump’s withdrawal of India’s GSP export status may be expected, and policy consistency is likely to be preferred to a more personalised summit style. Above all, as New Delhi prepares to adjust its responses to the new dispensation, it would welcome Mr. Biden’s stated intention to re-energise the multilateral global order, and to restore the U.S.’s position in “leading not by the example of [its] power, but by the power of example”. 

प्रतियोगी

1. ties (noun) – bond, association, relationship.
2. प्रतियोगी--प्रत्याशी--contender
3. personalised (adjective) – relating to something which is done to meet someone’s individual requirements.
4. summit (noun) – meeting, conference.
5. tie up loose ends (phrase) – to complete the last few minor details of a project such that the task is entirely finished.
6. mixed bag (noun) – something having a mixture of (advantages and disadvantages) different things.
7. invest in (verb) – vest in, endow in, confer on, entrust to, give to.
8. considerably (adverb) – greatly, very much, a lot.
9. virtual (adjective) – effective, practical.
10. endorsement (noun) – support, backing, approval.समर्थन
11. snub (noun) – rebuff, insult, repulse, rejection, affront, humiliation.अपमान
12. play (verb) – present, produce, give.
13. impression (noun) – opinion, view, judgement; feeling, apprehension, suspicion.
14. strategic (adjective) – relating to achieving long-term or overall military goals.
15. given (preposition) – considering, taking into account, bearing in mind.
16. coronavirus (CoV) (noun) – a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases. common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. (Courtesy: WHO)
17. pandemic (noun) – the worldwide spread of a new disease; The illness spreads around the world and typically affects a large number of people across a wide area.
18. president-elect (noun) – a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a president-elect (e.g. President-elect of the United States).
19. articulate (verb) – (of an idea) express, communicate, state.
20. heal (verb) – lessen, mitigate, alleviate; put right, set right, remedy, resolve.
21. rift (noun) – break, division, split; disagreement, difference of opinion (in relationship).दरार
22. polity (noun) – a politically organized society.
23. soul (noun) – spirit, inner/true being, essential nature.अन्त: मन
24. move (noun) – action, measure, deed.
25. make a move (phrase) – take action.
26. reverse (verb) – alter, change.
27. Paris Agreement/Accord (noun) – The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention (agreement) and for the first time brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. The Paris Agreement central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
28. energy transformation (noun) – also known as “energy conversion”, is the process of changing energy from one form to another.
29. facilitate (verb) – make easy, make possible; assist, help/aid.
30. regional connectivity (noun) – regional connectivity is regarded as the level and effectiveness of regional networks to facilitate flows of goods, services, people and knowledge.
31. unlikely (adjective) – not likely, improbable, questionable, doubtful.संभावना नहीं
32. pullout (noun) – departure, withdrawal, retreat, disengagement, exit.बाहर खींचें
33. measured (adjective) – thoughtful, careful, considered.
34. likely (adjective) – probable, distinctly possible, to be expected.
35. confrontational (adjective) – hostile, argumentative, aggressive/belligerent.टकराव
36. attitude (noun) – viewpoint, perspective, standpoint, position, approach.
37. pushback (noun) – resistance, opposition, disagreement, force back, repulse drive.पीछे धकेलना
38. press/hit a (hard or raw) nerve (phrase) – to annoy/irritate/upset someone.
39. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (noun) – The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act, 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for illegal migrants of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities, who had fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 2014. Muslims from those countries were not given such eligibility.
40. campaign (noun) – an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group.
41. engagement (noun) – participation, taking part, involvement; meeting.
42. hold one’s own (phrase) – stand firm, stand one’s ground, keep/maintain one’s position.
43. broader superlative adjective of broad (adjective) – comprehensive, inclusive, extensive, wide-ranging.
44. process-driven (adjective) – relating to the approach which values the process over anything else.
45. build up (phrasal verb) – establish, set up, form.
46. trans- (prefix) – across.
47. trans-Atlantic (adjective) – concerning/relating to countries on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
48. trans-Pacific (adjective) – on, from the other side of, spanning or crossing the Pacific Ocean.
49. alliance (noun) – relationship, coalition, union.गठबंधन
50. at odds with (phrase) – inconsistent, in conflict, in opposition, contrary to.
51. transactional (adjective) – exchangeable, transferable, negotiable, marketable.
52. Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) (noun) – The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for thousands of products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories.
53. policy consistency (noun) – it means compatibility and uniformity of course of actions between the top to the bottom level stakeholders so that it can be correctly and efficiently followed by all of them without creating a conflict.
54. dispensation (noun) – government.व्यवस्था
55. stated (adjective) – specified, identified, expressed (clearly).
56. intention (noun) – aim, purpose, objective. 
57. multilateral (adjective) – involving many different countries/parties/organizations.
58. world/global/international order (noun) – the arrangement of power and authority that provides the system for the conduct of diplomacy and world politics in relation to the entire world. An international-relations term describing the distribution of power among world powers.

Walk the talk: On India as investment destination

India must ensure regulatory certainty while seeking to woo global investors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent address at a virtual global investor round table was delivered, as is his wont, with inimitable energy and trademark alliterative phrases. Pitching India as the ideal destination, he stressed that the country offered a gamut of benefits spanning “returns with reliability, demand with democracy, stability with sustainability and growth with a green approach”. He also underscored the country’s planned $1.5 trillion National Infrastructure Pipeline and other public works projects as an immense opportunity for trust fund managers looking to reap the ‘best’ and ‘safest’ returns over a longer term for their principals. Seen in the context of the pressing need to revive investment, his exhortations tick all the right boxes. As the RBI noted in its latest monetary policy report last month, investment, already in contraction mode since the July-September quarter in 2019, suffered a further massive pandemic shock. Fixed investment, which almost halved in the first quarter of the current fiscal, continues to face an uncertain outlook given the weak consumption demand and excess capacity in most industries, especially when coupled with stretched balance sheets that cramp businesses’ ability to borrow and invest, according to the RBI. And the government’s ability to apportion more funds for growth-spurring capital projects is hamstrung by a widening fiscal deficit amid a protracted border stand-off, the health crisis and a debilitating revenue shortfall.

Asserting that all sectors of the economy were looking up in the wake of the government’s resolute tackling of the pandemic, Mr. Modi cited a 13% increase in FDI flows in the first five months of the financial year as reflective of the global investor community’s confidence. However, what he likely overlooked was that with almost three-fourths of the $27 billion of FDI equity inflows in that period being accounted for by stake acquisitions in a single large telecom company, a bulk of this investment is unlikely to manifest as new job-creating factories or businesses. As a former Chief Minister of Gujarat, who aggressively solicited and won industrial investments, Mr. Modi is surely only too well aware that what investors crave most is regulatory certainty. The Prime Minister needs to ensure that his assurance of stability is buttressed by actions that dispel investors’ concerns over policy flip-flops. Even as the Centre is yet to clarify whether it will accept or challenge the tossing of its tax claim against Vodafone by an international arbitral tribunal, it separately last week enacted an ordinance to retrospectively amend the arbitration law, ostensibly to deal with contracts that may be underpinned by ‘fraud or corruption’. The rule changes in wholesale and online trade are another example of shifting goal posts. Mr. Modi has his task cut out: make sure that investors see him walk the talk.

inimitable--अननुकरणीय, अव्दितीय,अनोखी--Unique

gamut--विस्तार,राग--detail, expansion, breadth

spanning--फैलाना--spread,diffuse, protrude, unfold

underscored--रेखांकित--underlined,drawn, striate

reliability--विश्वसनीयता--reliability, convincement, Credibility

reap--काटना--reap, chop, dissect

exhortations--प्रोत्साहन,संबोधन--incentive, encouragement, stimulus

halved-आधी

excess--अतिरिक्त--additional, Extra, extras

apportion--बांटना-- dispense, divide,Distribute

growth-spurring--विकास तेजी

deficit-- घाटा, कमी, अभाव--loss

protracted---लंबा-- long, tall, lengthy

stand-off--क़ायम--Set

debilitating--दुर्बल-- lean, weak, svelte,languish

shortfall--कमी--lack, reduction, decrease

manifest--प्रकट, ज़ाहिर--noticeably,obvious, manifest, undoubted

solicited--मांगा

crave--लालसा--longing, desire, lust

dispel--दूर करना--do away, dispel, discard

arbitral--पंचायती--communal,commonable

ostensibly--जाहिरा तौर पर--obviously,public library, seemingly