Daily Hindu Editorials

💥 Daily Word Bytes - 1  from editorial  - Death in Gaza  💥 toll (noun) – adverse effect, undesirable consequence, damage. Hindu Editorial usage  :   The deaths at the Gaza-Israel border show the continuing toll of occupation precede (verb) – come/go before, pave the way for, lead to. Hindu Editorial usage  :   The violence in Gaza that preceded the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem on Monday has once again reminded the world of the dangerous consequences of President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. diplomatic mission from Tel Aviv to the disputed city besides (preposition) – apart from, in addition, as well as. Hindu Editorial usage  :   many had warned it would trigger violence in the Palestinian Territories besides complicating any peace processes suffocatingly (adverb) – oppressively, domineeringly, repressively. Hindu Editorial usage  :   On Monday morning, across Gaza, a tiny Mediterr...

💥 Daily Word Bytes - 1  from editorial  - Rupee rout: on the Indian currency's slide  💥 rout (noun) – downfall, collapse/defeat; fiasco. Hindu Editorial usage :   Rupee rout: on the Indian currency's slide slide (noun) – fall, decline, tumble/sink. Hindu Editorial usage :   Rupee rout: on the Indian currency's slide trade deficit (noun) – a trade deficit (a deficit in the balance of trade) occurs when the value of a country’s imports exceeds that of its exports. It is also called a trade gap. Hindu Editorial usage :   Slide of the currency and a widening trade deficit present the RBI with a huge dilemma dilemma (noun) – difficulty, problem, conundrum. Hindu Editorial usage :   Slide of the currency and a widening trade deficit present the RBI with a huge dilemma grapple with (phrasal verb) – tackle with, face, deal with (a difficulty). Hindu Editorial usage :   India’s macroeconomic threats lie exposed as it grapples wit...

👉On the stakes involved in cracking the civil services examination👈 Every year nearly a million Indians prepare for the civil services examination. The enormous appetite for this examination has refused to fade, even since colonial times. A probable reason could be that it is not an ordinary exam and it throws the common man directly into the country’s power structure. Few other exams bestow such power and opportunities to successful aspirants. Government data for last year’s exam reflect this reality. In 2017, 9,57,590 candidates applied, out of whom 4,56,625 actually “appeared”. Also 13,366 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (main) examination held; 2,568 qualified for the personality test. Finally, only 990 candidates were selected. The story doesn’t end here because only a minute percentage of those selected get into services such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS). For instance, for the 2017 exam, only 180 and 4...

👉Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit was high on symbolism but India must do more to deliver on the bilateral agenda👈 Last week, Narendra Modi visited Nepal, his third since he became Prime Minister in 2014. Each of the visits has been markedly different, in terms of both atmospherics and outcomes. This is due to the political backdrop against which it took place, reflecting the evolving Nepali domestic political transition from a centralised monarchy to a federal republic and the complex nature of India-Nepal relations. Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli was in Delhi from April 6-8. Mr. Modi’s return visit coming within a month (May 11-12) was not just good neighbourliness but more a realisation that the relationship had deteriorated in recent years and there was an urgent need to arrest the slide. 👉Nepal’s importance After coming to power, Nepal was among Mr. Modi’s first destinations abroad (August, 2014), in keeping with his ‘neighbourhood first’ policy. A bila...

👉Slide of the currency and a widening trade deficit present the RBI with a huge dilemma👈 India’s macroeconomic threats lie exposed as it grapples with the rupee’s slide. The currency sunk to a closing low of 68.07 against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, its lowest level in 16 months, before recovering slightly the next day. The rupee, already one of the worst performing Asian currencies, has now weakened 6.2% in 2018. The rise in crude oil prices through this year, amidst rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia and dwindling global supply, have obviously hurt the rupee and the trade balance. Meanwhile, despite a depreciating currency, India’s merchandise exports are stumbling instead of gaining from the opportunity. April clocked a sharp decline in exports from employment-intensive sectors such as readymade garments and gems and jewellery, according to official data. The trade deficit has consequently widened to $13.7 billion in April, compared to $13.25 billion in the same month i...

👉The deaths at the Gaza-Israel border show the continuing toll of occupation👈 The violence in Gaza that preceded the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem on Monday has once again reminded the world of the dangerous consequences of President Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. diplomatic mission from Tel Aviv to the disputed city. When Mr. Trump first announced the shift, making good a campaign promise, many had warned it would trigger violence in the Palestinian Territories besides complicating any peace processes. On Monday morning, across Gaza, a tiny Mediterranean strip that has been suffocatingly blockaded by Israel and Egypt for years, loudspeakers urged Palestinians to rush to the border with Israel and protest. On the border, Israeli soldiers fired into the crowd, killing at least 60 people; it was the worst day of violence since Israel attacked Gaza in 2014. The embassy shift and the disproportionate response at the Gaza border, crucially, came on the eve of ...

👉Politics based on social coalitions has a limited reach; the Opposition needs electoral alliances to take on the BJP👈 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has emerged as the single largest party in Karnataka, has again set foot in the south, and hopes to take it forward. But the task may not be that easy. The Congress, on the other hand, which stitched together a social coalition in Karnataka, has managed to hold on to its support base; but it has found it difficult to move beyond its core support base. Though this social coalition enabled it to put up a fight against the BJP, it still failed to steal a march on the BJP. Similarly, the dependence of the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), on its core support base among the Vokkaligas, numerically strong in the southern Karnataka region, did help the party put up a decent performance. But it also failed to show any sign of an expansion in other regions or acceptability among other social groups. The result shows two things: th...

👉With a bit of adjustment and political chutzpah, Siddaramaiah could have blocked the BJP outright👈 Election time in India has become a litany of defeat for the Congress where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plays the magician, pulling rabbit after rabbit from its hat, to the gasp and adulation of the crowd. BJP president Amit Shah knows that it is not numbers alone that count, one needs an excitement, a flair, where each victory sounds a bit different from the last to keep spectators on edge and to make commentary a risky exercise. He wanted to make Karnataka a historic movement, a statement of the BJP entering the south. If he sounded like an imperial invader, he knew he would be forgiven because no BJP mistake could match the consolidated idiocy of the Congress. In fact, insiders often complain the Congress behaves like an Indian nawab before the British, losing to infighting and arrogance long before it confronts the enemy in battle. 👉It’s the mathematics There was ...