Daily English Vocab PDF 30th March 2017

Can Hindutva Deliver Vikas?

The BJP's staggering (चौंका देने वाली) win in UP is supposedly the result of a message of Hindutva
plus economic aspiration. Hindu consolidation by the Sangh on the ground and economic
aspiration embodied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the winning formula. Modi in Delhi,
Yogi in Lucknow is the slogan. As MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi puts it, with `development' as
username and `hindutva' as password logging in to massive mandates becomes automatic.
But can Hindutva deliver development in the long run? Modi ran a `Hindutva plus development'
model in Gujarat for 12 years but as the Hardik Patel agitation shows the state still suffers endemic
(स्थानीय) unemployment. Academic Pranab Bardhan writes Gujarat was a model of growth but not
job creation, because Gujarat welcomed capital intensive petrochemical and pharma sectors which
did not provide jobs for the uneducated and semi-skilled majority in the workforce.
Modi's economic model is about an efficiently run, apparently incorruptible (न भ्रष्ट होने योग्य) yet
massively controlling citizen monitoring state with Hindutva as its ideological base. In fact, Modi's
a statist with no record of rolling back government power. Schemes from Swachh Bharat to Skill
India to Start Up India show big and controlling government imposing plans (no doubt well-
intentioned) dreamt up by the high command and imposed on citizens.
This leviathan (very large or powerful) state plays a crucial role in the propagation of Hindutva.
Just as socialism was implemented through state power by Left-inclined regimes, now Hindutva
is being implemented through state power. In Yogi Adityanath led UP the crackdown (कडी कर्रवाई)
on `illegal' slaughterhouses, setting up anti-Romeo squads or ban on wearing jeans by government
officers shows that in Hindutva style governance there is little space for individual rights and free
will.
Adityanath's earlier assertion that women's energies need to be “protected, controlled and
channelized” again reveals an ideologically purist, controlling mindset, obsessed with maintaining
Hindutva order. Given that the key challenge in India is job creation, an exclusionary ideology like
Hindutva blocks rather than creates jobs. Slaughterhouses after all provided livelihoods to both
Hindus and Muslims, as did the cattle trade.
The liberalisation of 1991 showed that achieving high growth in the Indian context is not about
asserting state power but rather about rolling back the powers of the state. A liberal economy
generally doesn't bear down on the individual with a plethora (बहुतायत/प्रचुर्ता) of rules, instead it
aims to back off from areas where it ideally should not meddle. The summary (अववलंवबत) closure
of slaughterhouses is a triumphant (feeling or expressing jubilation after a victory or
achievement.) example of brute state power and a strong man CM, but does such demonstration
of executive authority create business confidence?
A rampaging (uncontrollable) state could after all flex its muscles any time and order closure of
any manufacturing unit that does not fit its required political-ideological crusade. When arbitrary
state action becomes policy, then newer victims are needed every few months to demonstrate its
power. After slaughterhouses and meat shops, it could be chicken shops or maybe fish markets.
Who can predict what new campaign will be launched by an ideologically saturated super-
executive?
For now though the Hindutva plus development formula seems to be winning. Shivraj Singh
Chauhan won two and Raman Singh three consecutive elections in MP and Chhattisgarh, BJP
continues to be dominant in Gujarat and in Rajasthan the Vasundhara Raje government is moving
robustly on development while restricting cultural freedoms by, for example, bowing to the culture
police on Bollywood films.
But for how long will this formula hold? Nehru ruled unchallenged from 1947 onwards but faced
real dissent (असहमवत) within just a decade of his premiership (the office or position of a prime
minister or other head of government.) in the Left victory in Kerala in 1957. Indira was the
goddess of India after 1971, but by the very next year her authority began to crumble. Marxist rule
collapsed in Bengal because ultimately it could not deliver. In these elections the BJP triumphed
in UP and Uttarakhand but could not score well in either Punjab or Goa. BJP chief ministers
famously say that water, electricity and roads do not discriminate between communities.But how
about discrimination in schools, universities or restaurants?
Witness the recent siege of a Jaipur eatery by a gau raksha outfit. An official UGC report for 2015-
16 shows Gujarat University has the second highest cases of discrimination against Dalits among
central universities.
Hindutva with its rigid social hierarchies (पदक्रम/अनुक्रम) implies an assault on individual freedoms
at different levels: the right to eat meat, the right to romance, the right to cultural interpretation or
the right to a livelihood without fear of state action. When social harmony and individual freedom
hang in the balance, enterprise is stymied (बाधाएँ कर्ना). Modi's important promises of one crore
jobs, or putting India in the first 50 in ease of doing business rankings (India still comes in at
130th) remain unfulfilled.
That's because the Hindutva model of governance relies on state control of the citizen. The
Hindutva state is in fact a massive socialist state with a religious hue.Like all socialist states it is
marked by a slew of benevolent schemes, a throwback to Indira Gandhi's 20 Point
Programme.Indira and the Marxists failed at delivering long term development because they relied
heavily on the agency of state power and crushed individual rights.
The Vajpayee-led NDA and Manmohan Singh-led UPA had realised that state as mai baap has to
recede if development is to take off. But the Hindutva model of triumphalist state power is in no
mood to back down after tasting huge electoral success. UP is the new laboratory for the Hindutva-
meets-vikas experiment. But can it deliver real results in an incorrigibly (असध ु ायर रूप से) diverse
society? Issues like cow slaughter and Ram mandir provide a heady sense of identity but when
mighty state power is used for an ideological crusade, it doesn't bode well for social creativity or
an entrepreneurial buzz.
Courtesy: The Times of India (National)

1. Staggering (adjective): So surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm. (चौंका देने वाली)

Synonyms: Amazing, Astonishing, Astounding Stupendous, Surprising.
Antonyms: Unimpressive, Boring, Dull.
Example: The staggering price of gasoline will probably keep drivers off the roads during the
holiday weekend.

Verb forms: Stagger, Staggered, Staggered.

Related words:
Stagger (verb) - Astonish or deeply shock.

2. Endemic (adjective): Characteristic of or prevalent in a particular field, area, or

environment./found among particular people or in a certain area. (स्थानीय)
Synonyms: Local, Regional, Pertaining to origination.
Antonyms: Alien, Extrinsic, Outward.
Example: While malaria is rarely seen in the United States, it is endemic to several tropical
countries.
Related words:
Endemically (adverb) - स्थानिक रूप से
Origin: From the Greek endēmos, which joins en, meaning "in," and dēmos, meaning
"population.

3. Leviathan (adjective): Very large or powerful/ something large or formidable.

Synonyms: Giant, Mammoth, Behemoth, Colossus.
Antonyms: Diminutive, Dwarf.
Example: In the ocean, the whale is considered a leviathan because of its tremendous size.

Origin: from Hebrew liwyāthān "Twisted; coiled". Later translated into the Greek it meant the
word "dragon." In Modern Hebrew, it simply means "whale."

4. Crackdown (noun): A series of severe measures to restrict undesirable or illegal people or

behavior/ a serious attempt to punish people for doing something that is not allowed. (कडी कर्रवाई)
Synonyms: Clampdown, Severe/Stern Measures, Taking Repressive Actions.
Example: The police began a crackdown on smugglers.

5. Plethora (noun): A large or excessive amount of something/ an excess of. (बहुतायत/प्रचुर्ता)

Synonyms: Overabundance, Plenty, Profusion, Surfeit, Glut.
Antonyms: Lack, Scarcity, Rarity.
Example: Because the restaurant staff accidentally created a plethora of food, many diners
received free meals.
Related words:
Plethoric (adjective) – प्रचुर
Origin: from Greek plēthōra, means fullness.

6. Summary (adjective): Conducted without the customary legal formalities. (अववलवं बत)

Synonyms: Immediate, Instant, Instantaneous, On-The-Spot, Direct, Forthwith, Prompt.

Antonyms: Dilatory, Slow.
Example: Summary arrest of culprit created a sense of trust in society.
Related words:
Summary (noun): a brief statement or account of the main points of something.
Origin: from Latin summarius means sum/ total.

7. Rampage (noun): Of violent and uncontrollable behavior (उपद्रव)

Synonyms: Frenzy, Delirium, Furore.
Antonyms: Calmness, Peace, Quietude.
Example: Authorities are trying to figure out what sparked the rampage in the city.
Verb forms: Rampage, Rampaged, Rampaged.
Related words:
Rampage (verb) - Move through a place in a violent and uncontrollable manner.
8. Hierarchy (noun): A system in which members of an organization or society are ranked
according to relative status or authority. (पदक्रम/अनुक्रम)
Synonyms: Pecking order, Ladder, Social stratum.
Antonyms: Disorder, Disarrangement.
Example: On commercial airlines, there is an economic hierarchy that separates passengers into
financial classes.

Related words:
Hierarchical (adjective) – श्रेणीबद्ध
Origin: From Latin hierarchia

9. Stymie (verb): To stand as an obstacle./ to present an obstacle to / stand in the way of. (बाधाएँ
कर्ना)
Synonyms: Impede, Hinder, Obstruct, Inhibit, Block.
Antonyms: aid, assist, facilitate, help.
Example: The purpose of chemoprevention or preventive therapy is to stymie the growth of the
cancer cells.

Verb forms: Stymie, Stymied, Stymied.

Origin: From a golfing term, stymie means to obstruct a golf shot by interposition of the
opponent's ball.
 10. Incorrigible (adjective): Not able to be changed or reformed. (असध
ु ायर)
Synonyms: Incurable, Irrecoverable, Irredeemable, Irreformable.
Antonyms: Recoverable, Redeemable, Reformable, Remediable.
Example: Even after spending a year in jail, the young man remains incorrigible and unafraid of
the law.

Related words:
Incorrigibly (adverb) – असधु ायर रूप से
Origin: from Late Latin incorrigibilis, from Latin in- + corrigere to correct.

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