Vocab knowledge is important in preparing for government exams. We started with Hindu Editorial Vocab providing contextual meaning of difficult words with synonyms and antonyms. Start your learning journey with the Hindu Editorial Vocabulary 15th April 2024.

The Hindu Editorial Vocab On Retail Inflation  

Food prices still bite even as fresh pressures could weigh on inflation

For the first time in five months, India’s retail inflation slid below the 5% mark in March, to 4.85%. While it constituted only a marginal (very small in amount or effect) easing from the 5.1% recorded in February, this was the lowest pace of price rise recorded since May 2023. The average inflation (a general, continuous increase in prices) of 5% clocked in the final quarter of 2023-24 is not just in line with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) projections but also the slowest in three years. For the full year gone by, consumer price rise averaged 5.4%, as the RBI had forecast — a four-year low. Core inflation, excluding energy and food prices, has been under the 4% mark for four straight months. QuantEco Research estimates that overall fuel inflation in India hit a four-year low of -2.7% in March, which was the seventh straight month of disinflation in the segment (one of the smaller groups or amounts that a larger group or amount can be divided into). No doubt, the ₹2 per litre cuts in petrol and diesel prices and the ₹100 drop in cylinder prices have helped, though the full impact of these pre-poll steps will be seen this month. Amid these pleasant portents (a sign that something bad is likely to happen in the future), two critical problems persist (If an unpleasant feeling or situation persists, it continues to exist) — food bills remain problematically high, even as overall inflation is rising for rural consumers, already hit by a weak monsoon.

Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Food Price Index, has averaged an alarming 8% through 2023-24, and 8.5% in the January to March quarter. And while some government interventions (the action of becoming intentionally involved in a difficult situation, in order to improve it or prevent it from getting worse) have helped check a few items’ prices and hopes of a normal monsoon this year could lift some pressure points, perhaps from July onwards, the ongoing heat waves across large parts of the country remain a threat to perishable (used to describe products, especially food, that decay quickly) supplies. Moreover, some key items are seeing deeply entrenched (established firmly so that it cannot be changed) inflation trends — double-digit inflation has now been seen for five months in vegetables, 10 months in pulses and a whopping 22 months in spices. Cereals inflation picked up pace in March, breaking a seven-month moderating streak, while eggs, meat and fish are also seeing spikes. While the RBI expects inflation to cool to 4.5% this year, it is projected at 4.9% for the first quarter. A durable descent (the state or fact of being related to a particular person or group of people who lived in the past) to its 4% target that has now been elusive for 54 months, remains tricky. For urban consumers, inflation eased tantalisingly close to the target in March at 4.14%, but it rose in rural India to 5.45% from 5.34% in January and February. While a prolonged phase of high prices is already hurting consumption (the act of using, eating, or drinking something), the resurgence (a new increase of activity or interest in a particular subject or idea that had been forgotten for some time) in crude oil prices to a seven-month high of $90 a barrel this month, faltering hopes of interest rate cuts in the United States and the European Union, and strife-fuelled shipping cost spikes, pose fresh worries on the inflation front in the months to come.

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary Wordlist 15th April 2024

We compiled a list of difficult words with contextual meanings in the Hindu Vocab Wordlist on 15th April 2024.

• Marginal: Very small in amount or effect.
• Inflation: A general, continuous increase in prices.
• Segment: One of the smaller groups or amounts that a larger group or amount can be divided into.
• Portents: A sign that something bad is likely to happen in the future.
• Persist: If an unpleasant feeling or situation persists, it continues to exist.
• Intervention: The action of becoming intentionally involved in a difficult situation, in order to improve it or prevent it from getting worse.
• Perishable: Used to describe products, especially food, that decay quickly.
• Entrenched: Established firmly so that it cannot be changed.
• Descent: The state or fact of being related to a particular person or group of people who lived in the past.
• Consumption: The act of using, eating, or drinking something
• Resurgence: A new increase of activity or interest in a particular subject or idea that had been forgotten for some time.

The Hindu Vocab Master 15th April with Synonyms & Antonyms

Read the Hindu Vocab Master to know synonyms and antonyms of difficult words compiled in a table.

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