Daily Vocab For Various Competitive Exams: 24th July 2018

India needs a world view as great powers shift approaches and alignments

The BRICS Summit comes at a time when the purpose and existence of the multilateral system, European Union and military alliances is being questioned even by the (1) proponents, creating a vacuum; China seeks to “lead the reform of the global governance system with the concept of fairness and justice”; and, India aims to be a third pole of the emerging world order, as a rule-maker and not a rule-taker. Firstly, instead of focusing on great power competition, India’s exceptionalism, relevance and influence in the international community will be addressing the growing environmental challenges that everyone faces (2) relegating traditional strategic considerations to a position of lesser importance. Second, strategic autonomy, in a connected and interdependent world, has to be (3) embedded in reform of global governance. The choice is whether to see the United Nations or ASEAN as the (4) bedrock. The Indo-Pacific, with ASEAN at its center, needs to be defined as a regional concept for shared prosperity, not security chessboard, and the (5) consensus then extended to transform the United Nations and WTO.

China’s BRI is really a development model remaking trade relations (6) reminiscent of the West withdrawing from the GATT and pushing developing countries into the WTO in 1995 while bringing in services and intellectual property rights. The recent U.S. National Security Strategy focuses on restricting China’s access to (7) cutting-edge science and technology and has the (8) tacit support of the EU. At a time of flux, global powers establish new rules, as both Trump and Xi are doing, because influence now depends on evolving technological capacity, not military might. India needs a multipronged response to the BRI.

American and Chinese companies are already fighting for global digital supremacy through the Indian market, transplanting services and buying start-ups. Online data provides the fuel for artificial intelligence and leads to profits as well as dependencies if it flows outside the country to these powers, with geopolitical (9) implications. India is also a civilizational state with the potential to overtake the United States, just that current academic models do not explain this ‘reversal’. The BRICS are challenging a system the West built in its own image to serve its interests, and the (10) Retreat during the Summit provides the forum to lay out a conceptual framework of the alternative.

1. PROPONENT (noun) समर्थक
Meaning: a person who advocates a theory, proposal, or course of action.
Synonyms: advocate, supporter, upholder, exponent, promoter, backer, subscriber, patron, espouser, apostle, apologist, proposer, spokesperson, spokesman.
Antonyms: foe, rival, belittler, critic, adversary, antagonist, opponent.

2. RELEGATE (verb) निर्वासित करना
Meaning: assign an inferior rank or position to.
Synonyms: downgrade, lower, put down, consign, banish, exile, demote, degrade, declass, disrate, drum out, bust.
Antonyms: upgrade, promote, raise, elevate, advance, hold, take In, keep.

3. EMBED (verb) अंतःस्थापित
Meaning: to make something an integral part of.
Synonyms: implant, set, fix, insert, place, sink, submerge, immerse, enroot, entrench, ingrain, imbue, infuse, instill, settle, stick.
Antonyms: eliminate, eradicate, eject, expel, detach, disconnect, disengage, remove, dislodge, uproot.

4. BEDROCK (noun)  आधार
Meaning: the fundamental principles on which something is based.
Synonyms: core, basis, base, foundation, root, heart, backbone, essence, nitty-gritty, cornerstone, footing, groundwork, keystone, underpinning,
Antonyms: acme, apex, climax, crown, culmination, head, meridian, peak, pinnacle, summit, tip-top.

5. CONSENSUS (noun)  आम सहमति
Meaning: a general agreement.
Synonyms: agreement, harmony, concord, concurrence, consent, accord, unison, unity, unanimity, oneness, solidarity, concert.
Antonyms: discord, dissension, dissent, opposition, resistance, disapprobation, disapproval, disfavor, conflict, disagreement.

6. REMINISCENT (adjective)  बीती बातों से संबद्ध
Meaning: suggesting something by resemblance.
Synonyms: remindful, evocative, redolent, suggestive, recalling, allusive, implicative, recollective, indicative, balmy.
Antonyms: oblivious, forgetful, unmindful, prospective, unreminiscent.

7. CUTTING-EDGE (adjective) अग्रणी
Meaning: highly advanced; innovative or pioneering.
Synonyms: advanced, avant-garde, progressive, revolutionary, trailblazing, alternative, nontraditional, unconventional, fresh, new, novel.
Antonyms: conventional, customary, established, orthodox, traditional.

8. TACIT (adjective)  निहित
Meaning: understood or implied without being stated.
Synonyms: implicit, inferred, hinted, suggested, insinuated, unspoken, unstated, undeclared, unsaid, unexpressed, unvoiced, silent, wordless.
Antonyms: blatant, evident, manifest, obvious, plain, straightforward, unequivocal, explicit, expressed, spoken, stated, voiced.

9. IMPLICATION (noun)  निहितार्थ
Meaning: the action or state of being involved in something.
Synonyms: incrimination, involvement, connection, entanglement, association, insinuation, inkling.
Antonyms: disentanglement, detachment, disengagement, banishment, exclusion, barring, extraction.

10. RETREAT (noun)  निवर्तन 
Meaning: the process of receding from a position or state attained.
Synonyms: pull out, recede, retire, withdraw, flee, flinch, recoil, detach, disengage, disentangle, pull away, abandon, depart.
Antonyms: beard, brave, brazen, breast, confront, dare, defy, face, outbrave, advance.