THE HINDU EDITORIAL : JULY 18, 2018

 

THE HINDU EDITORIAL – July 18, 2018 is one of the must read for the competitive exams like SBI PO Mains , SBI CLERK Mains Exam, BOB PO Manipal Online Exam. These topics are widely expected to be asked in the reading comprehension , Cloze Test or in Error Detection topics in the forthcoming exams. So gear up for your Exam preparation and learn new words daily.

---

 

---

a) Inflation worries

The Wholesale Price Index as a measure of price gains is back in the national spotlight. The latest data, which show a sharp surge in wholesale inflation in June, to a 54-month high of 5.77%, are a cause for concern. While the WPI is no longer the primary focus in the Reserve Bank of India’s inflation-targeting approach to monetary policy formulation — having ceded that role to the Consumer Price Index — the gauge remains economically significant nevertheless. The measure of wholesale price gains is the key deflator in computing the Index of Industrial Production and is also used to deflate Gross Domestic Product at current prices. A detailed look at WPI data for June reveals several pressure points warranting closer macro-economic scrutiny. Not only have rising crude oil prices persistently fanned inflation — by contributing significantly to a 214 basis-points month-on-month jump in June for the primary articles group — they have also led to rapidly accelerating double-digit price gains in the fuel and power group. Inflation in the fuel and power group has quickened every month since February’s 4.55% print, to 16.18% in June. Food articles are another source of worry, especially the prices of vegetables and the politically sensitive duo of potatoes and onions. While inflation in vegetable prices more than tripled in pace from May’s 2.51% to 8.12% in June, the annual gains in potato prices have been in a steep upward spiral for five straight months and exceeded 99% in June. And while inflation in onion prices at the wholesale level has cooled appreciably from January’s 194% level, at 18.25% the rate is still far from reassuring. Manufactured products — the third key group-level constituent of the WPI with the largest weight of 64.2% — are also signalling a worrying wider inflationary trend. This could feed through to consumer price gains, which touched a five-month high of 5% in June. The headline inflation in this group, spanning 564 items, ticked up for a third consecutive month in June to 4.17%. Manufacture of basic metals that includes a range of goods from alloy steel castings, stainless steel tubes to copper plates and aluminium sheets — products that find diverse applications across multiple end-use industries — posted headline inflation of 17.34%, an increase from the 15.79% reading in May. To be sure, the price gains have to be seen from the perspective of an unfavourable base effect — WPI inflation in June 2017 was just 0.9%. But policymakers can ill afford to ease their vigil, especially given the government’s decision to increase the minimum support price for kharif crops and uncertainty about the spatial impact of this year’s monsoon rains on overall agricultural output. After all, a sustained trend of high WPI inflation will not only add pressure on the RBI to raise interest rates, but could also potentially undermine the pace of GDP growth.

b) Comeback man: on Djokovic and Wimbledon

The sporting wilderness is a cruel, unforgiving place. Not even the greatest of champions avoid its desolate landscape; only a few find their way out of it. Ever since Novak Djokovic won his 12th Major at Roland Garros in 2016 — becoming only the second man, after Rod Laver in 1969, to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once — he has wandered the wastelands that strugglers frequent. The mask of invincibility he had worn for the best part of two years cracked. Indeed, when he bowed out of the French Open this June, he appeared broken, damaged. He said he wasn’t sure if he would play on grass. And yet, a little over a month later, he was back on the most famous court in tennis, bending to extract some of its hallowed turf so he could chew it — a victory celebration that had all but slipped from collective memory. In many ways, the performance against Kevin Anderson in the Wimbledon final was vintage Djokovic: ruthless, complete, untouchable. Granted, the 6’8” South African looked a shadow of the player that had returned from the dead to dethrone Roger Federer and had drawn on every last reserve to outlast John Isner. But even Anderson at his fittest and finest would have struggled against the Serb in this mood, on that stage. So, just what is behind Djokovic’s renaissance? It helps that the 31-year-old is healthy again. He was forced to retire from last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinal against Tomas Berdych because of an elbow injury. He underwent surgery this January, but was back sooner than advised — this, Djokovic admitted, contributed significantly to his slump. At this year’s Championships, he looked match-tough at last, close to his elastic best. His game has always suited grass — or modern-day grass, at any rate. Wimbledon’s courts no longer play like “ice slathered with Vaseline”, as Andre Agassi famously said, but they still favour fleet-footed movement and a flatter stroke, pared of top-spin. These two attributes — added to a secure serve, a considerable improvement on the abbreviated eyesore his elbow injury had forced him into — made Djokovic a contender. But it wasn’t until his epic semi-final against Rafael Nadal that he and the rest of the tennis world truly knew he was back from the beyond. It was his ‘dark night of the soul’ — an inner torment he had to master, for the consequences of failure might have been too heavy to bear. This he did, relaxing into the moment and entering a zone only a select few have access to. And like Federer and Nadal have over the last year and a half, Djokovic showed that the elite can never be written off. Reports of the deaths of their careers are often greatly exaggerated.

---

WORDS/VOCABULARY

1) Spotlight

Meaning: Intense scrutiny or public attention.

Example: “she was constantly in the media spotlight”

2) Concern

Meaning: Anxiety; worry.

Example: “Carole gazed at her with concern”

Synonyms: Anxiety, Worry

Antonyms: Serenity, Indifference

3) Ceded

Meaning: Give up (power or territory).

Example: “in 1874, the islands were ceded to Britain”

Synonyms: Surrender, Concede

Antonyms: Keep, Gain

4) Gauge

Meaning: A means of estimating something.

Example: “emigration is perhaps the best gauge of public unease”

Synonyms: Measure, Standard

5) Deflator

Meaning: A figure that is used to change current prices or wages so that they can be compared to past prices or wages, by removing the effect of inflation.

Example: The price deflator measures the magnitude of price increases and detects whether higher costs drive consumers away from a product.

6) Deflate

Meaning: Bring about a general reduction of price levels in (an economy).

Example: “the budget deflated the economy”

Synonyms: Reduce, Diminish

Antonyms: Inflate

7) Warranting

Meaning: Officially affirm or guarantee.

Example: “the vendor warrants the accuracy of the report”

Synonyms: Affirm, Swear

8) Fanned

Meaning: Cause to become stronger or more widespread.

Example: “a fury fanned by press coverage”

Synonyms: Intensify, Increase

9) Quickened

Meaning: Make or become faster or quicker.

Example: “she quickened her pace, desperate to escape”

Synonyms: Accelerate, Hasten

Antonyms: Slow

10) Duo

Meaning: A pair of people or things.

Example: “the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy”

11) Cooled

Meaning: Become or make calm or less excited.

Example: “after I’d cooled off, I realized I was being irrational”

Synonyms: Calm down

12) Reassuring

Meaning: Say or do something to remove the doubts and fears of (someone).

Example: “he understood her feelings and tried to reassure her”

Synonyms: Encourage, Hearten

Antonyms: Alarm, Unnerve

13) Constituent

Meaning: Being a part of a whole.

Example: “the constituent minerals of the rock”

Synonyms: Component, Part

14) Spanning

Meaning: Extend across (a period of time or a range of subjects).

Example: “their interests span almost all the conventional disciplines”

15) Perspective

Meaning: A view or prospect.

Example: “a perspective of the whole valley”

Synonyms: View, Vista

16) Can ill afford

Meaning: If you cannot afford to do something, you must not do it because it would cause serious problems for you.

Example: We can’t afford to make any mistakes at this stage in the project.

17) Vigil

Meaning: A period of staying awake to be with someone who is ill or to call public attention to something.

Example: The boy’s parents kept a long vigil in his hospital room.

18) Spatial

Meaning: Relating to the position, area, and size of things.

Example: This task is designed to test children’s spatial awareness (= their understanding of where things are in relation to other things).

19) Undermine

Meaning: Lessen the effectiveness, power, or ability of, especially gradually or insidiously.

Example: “this could undermine years of hard work”

Synonyms: Subvert, Weaken

Antonyms: Enhance, Improve

20) Wilderness

Meaning: A position of disfavour, especially in a political context.

Example: “the man who led the Labour Party out of the wilderness”

21) Desolate

Meaning: Feeling or showing great unhappiness or loneliness.

Example: “I suddenly felt desolate and bereft”

Synonyms: Miserable, Sad

Antonyms: Joyful

22) Wandered

Meaning: Walk or move in a leisurely or aimless way.

Example: “I wandered through the narrow streets”

Synonyms: Stroll, Amble

23) Wastelands

Meaning: A place, time, or situation that does not contain or produce anything positive, or that is completely without a particular quality or activity.

Example: The spiritual wasteland of the 1980s.

24) Invincibility

Meaning: The quality of being too powerful to be defeated or overcome.

Example: “he gave off an aura of invincibility”

25) Worn

Meaning: Tolerate; accept; withstand continued use or life in a specified way.

Example: “the environmental health people wouldn’t wear it”

Synonyms: Allow, Permit

26) Bowed out

Meaning: To leave a job or stop doing an activity, usually after a long time.

Example: She’ll be bowing out at the end of the month, after hosting the programme for eight years.

Synonyms: Retiring, Resigning

27) Hallowed

Meaning: Greatly revere and honour.

Example: “the hallowed turf of Wimbledon”

28) Vintage

Meaning: Denoting something from the past of high quality, especially something representing the best of its kind.

Example: “a vintage Sherlock Holmes adventure”

Synonyms: Prime, Choice

29) Dethrone

Meaning: Remove from a position of authority or dominance.

Example: “he dethroned the defending title-holder”

Synonyms: Depose, Oust

Antonyms: Enthrone, Crown

30) Outlast

Meaning: Live or last longer than.

Example: “the kind of beauty that will outlast youth”

Synonyms: Outlive, Survive

31) Underwent

Meaning: Experience or be subjected to (something, typically something unpleasant or arduous).

Example: “he underwent a life-saving brain operation”

Synonyms: Experience, Undertake

32) Slump

Meaning: A period of substantial failure or decline.

Example: “Arsenal’s recent slump”

Synonyms: Worsen, Slowdown

Antonyms: Boom, Upturn

33) Slathered

Meaning: Spread or smear a substance thickly or liberally on.

Example: “scones slathered with clotted cream”

34) Fleet-footed

Meaning: Nimble and fast on one’s feet.

Example: “the fleet-footed sprinter ran full out”

35) Flatter

Meaning: Not showing much activity; sluggish.

Example: “the UK housing market was flat”

Synonyms: Slow, Inactive

Antonyms: Busy

36) Eyesore

Meaning: A thing that is very ugly, especially a building.

Example: “the office crumbled into an eyesore”

Synonyms: Defect, Mess

Antonyms: Vision

37) Contender

Meaning: A person or group competing with others to achieve something.

Example: “a presidential contender”

38) Torment

Meaning: A cause of severe suffering.

Example: “the journey must have been a torment for them”

Synonyms: Ordeal, Affliction

39) Written off

Meaning: To accept that an amount of money has been lost or that a debt will not be paid.

Example: The World Bank is being urged to write off debts from developing countries.

40) Exaggerated

Meaning: Represent (something) as being larger, better, or worse than it really is.

Example: “she was apt to exaggerate any aches and pains”

Synonyms: Overstate, Overestimated

Antonyms: Understate

---

For more videos of ENGLISH WINGLISH – THE HINDU EDITORIAL ANALYSIS check the below playlist.

---

THE HINDU EDITORIAL : JULY 17, 2018

---

---

---

Aspirants can find the other important THE HINDU EDITORIAL topics from the link that is mentioned below, to score more in the English section, THE HINDU EDITORIAL is vital and considered as the best source to learn more. Learning THE HINDU EDITORIAL provides you with an added advantage for the aspirants as this assist in their bank exam preparations.

---

Check the other important THE HINDU EDITORIAL from the previous months that are available in our Bankersdaily website through the links that are mentioned below.

---

THE HINDU EDITORIAL –  JUNE

---

MAY – THE HINDU EDITORIAL

---