The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary– Apr 2, 2021; Day 26

Nearly all the Banking, Insurance, and Government exams have English as an indispensable section. The section checks aspirants’ grasp on a range of factors like vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension. While reading the editorials of a couple of good newspapers is an excellent medium to improve all the three aspects, it becomes at times boring as well. This happens mainly because of two reasons: either the subject is not interesting enough to keep you glued on the article or you stumble across a lot of new and complicated words which you don’t understand.

Generally, it so happens that if there is only one unknown word in a sentence, you kind-of get its sense by reading the remaining sentence. But if there are two or more words placed interwovenly, the sense of the sentence is generally lost and you need to use a dictionary and attempt hard to understand what the sentence is trying to convey. It is for this reason that we are coming up with this article to help you out with the senses of the difficult words used in the editorial of reputed newspapers like The Hindu. Now, let’s have a look at the list of difficult words used in the editorial of The Hindu.

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Difficult Word/ Phrase	Contextual Meaning
Peg	fix (a rate) at a particular level
Prune	to reduce the number or amount of something
Status quo	The existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social or political issues
Defer	postpone
Inadvertently	without intention; accidentally
Flurry	a sudden, short period of activity
Tenure	The term of holding something
Extant	still in existence
Clinching	embracing
Jibe	an insulting or mocking remark; a taunt

Overseeing oversights: On small savings cut

U-turn on the drastic cut in small savings rates deferred the impact, but revealed the intent

India’s small savings instruments witnessed unprecedented overnight volatility in rates this week. On Wednesday evening, the Budget division in the Department of Economic Affairs revised downwards the interest rates payable on small savings instruments for the April-June 2021 quarter, by 40 basis points (0.4%) to 110 basis points (1.1%). The return on the most popular PPF scheme was pegged (fix (a rate) at a particular level) at 6.4%, the lowest level in 46 years. The government had refrained from tweaking these rates for the last three quarters after effecting a similarly sharp cut in Q1 of 2020-21, when the PPF interest was pruned (to reduce the number or amount of something) from 7.9% to 7.1%. However, by early Thursday, the rate cuts had disappeared and the status quo (existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social or political issues) reinstated, following a tweet by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The only explanation: ‘Orders issued by oversight shall be withdrawn.’ It is not clear whose ‘oversight’ led to the rates being cut. In the process, the intent has been revealed even if the impact is deferred (postponed). Surely, Wednesday’s order, approved by the competent authority, was not based on random numbers keyed in and notified inadvertently (without intention; accidentally) amidst a flurry (a sudden, short period of activity,) of last-minute economy-related government notifications on the last day of the financial year.

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It is difficult to believe that the oversight is on the bureaucracy’s part, for it simply executed the stated policy decision to link small savings rates to the interest paid on government securities of a comparable tenure (the term of holding something) every quarter. So one must deduce the oversight is on the political executive’s part on the timing and implications of executing the required decision as per the extant (still in existence) policy. The clinching (embracing) factor — the five Assembly polls. The government, that has brazened it out on Opposition jibes (an insulting or mocking remark; a taunt) about rising unemployment, high inflation along with soaring fuel prices, could ill afford to yield a fresh talking point — the squeezing of the middle class and senior citizens, even as they brace up for the fresh tax on provident fund incomes. This rollback is not the first instance of post-haste policy ad hocism, but it may make the government’s ₹12.05-lakh crore borrowing plan for the year harder as the central bank has been complaining of high small savings rates as a deterrent to lower interest rates. Another instance is the mysterious practice of oil companies freezing pump prices during electoral campaigns, even though oil prices are deregulated. The PM, as part of his ‘One Nation, One Election’ pitch, has often said that the virtually perennial poll season hits development. On the same note, if governments need permission to announce initiatives while the model code of conduct is in force, any deviation or reversal from routine administrative decisions should also attract the Election Commission’s scrutiny.

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Want to improve your vocabulary further? Download the Lists of Word-Meanings of Previous Months here.