The Hindu Editorial: April 15, 2019

Dear Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (April 15, 2019) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

Secrets and agents: arrest of Assange

The arrest of Julian Assange raises fears about suppression of the right to information

The arrest of Julian Assange, the head of the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, has renewed a global debate on balancing freedom of expression (or the right to information) with considerations towards the national security of a country. After nearly seven years of eluding authorities in the U.S. and the U.K., facing charges related to theft of classified information from government computers, he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on April 11 following Ecuador President Lenín Moreno’s withdrawal of his country’s grant of asylum to Mr. Assange, for “repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols”. Ecuador had earlier limited Mr. Assange’s Internet access. As he sits in jail for up to a year on bail-jumping charges from 2012 in a now-closed case relating to sexual assault allegations by a complainant from Sweden, he will find out whether he will ultimately face the prospect of extradition to the U.S. There, Mr. Assange is looking at a single count of conspiring, with former U.S. Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning, to break into a secret government computer network. Conspiracy charges, rather than those under the Espionage Act, are what he will likely face, given concerns in the U.K. that he should not be extradited to any country where the death penalty is applicable in his case.

At the heart of the drama is the question whether Mr. Assange is a “journalist” in the traditional sense of the word and whether, following that line of reasoning, freedom of expression is endangered or constrained by the action taken in this case. There is some irony in this debate given that the voices of liberal America are clamouring the loudest for his interrogation for the alleged crime of conspiracy, not so much in the case of the U.S. diplomatic cables or the dissemination of related top-secret U.S. government information — but owing to WikiLeaks being linked to rogue actors in Russia who allegedly purloined Democratic Party documents and handed them over to Mr. Assange for use on his website, thereby tipping the scales in Donald Trump’s favour in the 2016 election. Nevertheless, can WikiLeaks be considered a mainstream media organisation? Perhaps not. However, the arrest highlights troubling facts, including that the indictment against Mr. Assange, revealed only this month, appears to be flimsy, for it relates to a conversation he is alleged to have had nine years ago with Ms. Manning on a computer break-in attempt that ultimately failed. At a time when strongmen-led governments and resurgent nationalism are at the forefront of domestic politics in many countries, the arrest of a prominent anti-secrecy advocate is likely to have a chilling effect on whistle-blowers everywhere. That could ultimately weaken democracy itself.

VOCABULARY

Renewed

Meaning: to begin or take up again, as an acquaintance, a conversation, etc.; resume.

Tamil Meaning: புதுப்பிக்கப்பட்டு

Synonyms: revived, modernized, repaired

Antonyms: Damaged

Example: to renew a lease.

eluding

Meaning: to avoid or escape by speed, cleverness, trickery, etc.; evade:

Tamil Meaning: தப்பி செல ், பிடிகொடாமல் ஏய்

Synonyms: Baffle, outwit

Antonyms: Abet, Aid, Assist, Clarify

Example: to elude capture.

dragged out

Meaning: to draw with force, effort, or difficulty; pull heavily or slowly along; haul; trail/ continued for a long time, especially for longer than is necessary.

Tamil Meaning: வெளியேற்றப்பட்டது

Synonyms: Draw Out, Endure, Extend

Antonyms: Complete, Finish, End

Example: “a long, dragged-out story”

asylum

Meaning: the protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee.

Tamil Meaning: புகலிடம்/ தஞ்சமடைந்த இடம்/ அபயமளிக்கும் இடம்

Synonyms: refuge, sanctuary, shelter, safety

Antonyms: Danger

Example: “we provide asylum for those too ill to care for themselves”

allegations

Meaning: a claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically one made without proof.

Tamil Meaning: குற்றச்சாட்டு/ நிரூபணமாகாத கூற்று

Synonyms: Plea, Charge, Claim

Antonyms: Exculpation, Denial

Example: “he made allegations of corruption against the administration”

extradition

Meaning: the action of extraditing a person accused or convicted of a crime.

Tamil Meaning:

Synonyms: Deportation, handover, repatriation, refoulement, expulsion, banishment

Antonyms: Hold, Keep

Example: “they fought to prevent his extradition to the US”

conspiring

Meaning: make secret plans jointly to commit an unlawful or harmful act.

Tamil Meaning: சதி செய்கிறார்கள்/ கவிழ்க்க இரகசியத் திட்டங்கள் வகு

Synonyms: Plot, hatch a plot, form a conspiracy, scheme, plan

Antonyms: Leave Alone, Neglect, Disagree

Example: “they conspired against him”

Espionage

Meaning: the practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information.

Tamil Meaning: உளவு/ வேவு பார்த்தல்/ ஒற்றறியும் முறை

Synonyms: spying, undercover work, cloak-and-dagger activities, surveillance

Antonyms: Honesty, Truthfulness, Candour

Example: “the camouflage and secrecy of espionage”

endangered

Meaning: (of a species) seriously at risk of extinction.

Tamil Meaning: அருகிவரும்/ இடர் உண்டாக்கு

Synonyms: Imperil, Jeopardize, Risk, Put At Risk

Antonyms: Guard, Help, Protect, Aid

Example: “he was driving in a manner likely to endanger life”

constrained

Meaning: appearing forced or overly controlled.

Tamil Meaning: கட்டுப்படுத்தப்படும்/ இறுக்கம்

Synonyms: Unnatural, Awkward, Self-conscious, Mannered, Artificial, wooden, stilted, strained, Forced, Contrived, Laboured

Antonyms: Relaxed

Example: “he was acting in a constrained manner”

clamouring

Meaning: (of a group of people) shout loudly and insistently.

Tamil Meaning: ஆரவாரமாய் கூக்குரலிடுகின்றனர்

Synonyms: Yell, Shout, Bay, Scream, Shriek, Roar

Antonyms: Calm, Order, Peace, Silence

Example: “the surging crowds clamoured for attention”

alleged

Meaning: said, without proof, to have taken place or to have a specified illegal or undesirable quality.

Tamil Meaning: கூறப்படும்/ சொல்லப்படும்

Synonyms: Supposed, So-Called, Claimed, Professed, Purported, Ostensible

Antonyms: Certain, Definite, Sure

Example: “the alleged conspirators”

dissemination

Meaning: the action or fact of spreading something, especially information, widely.

Tamil Meaning: பரவலுக்கான

Synonyms: spreading, circulation, distribution, dispersal, diffusion; proclamation, promulgation, propagation, publicizing

Antonyms: Collection, Gathering

Example: “the dissemination of public information”

rogue

Meaning: a dishonest or unprincipled man/ a person or thing that behaves in an aberrant or unpredictable way, typically with damaging or dangerous effects.

Tamil Meaning: முரட்டு/ மோசக்காரன்

Synonyms: scamp, rascal, imp, devil

Antonyms: Decent, Ethical

Example: “you are a rogue and an embezzler”