The Hindu Editorial Based Vocab for Competitive Exams : 1st September

The sedition debate

Thoroughly overhauling Section 124-A is good, but repealing it is much better

Rulers everywhere tend to treat trenchant criticism as attempts to
excite disaffection and disloyalty. That is perhaps the only reason that
Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, enacted under colonial rule, remains on
the statute book. There have been repeated instances of its misuse. Regimes at
the Centre and the States have often been shown in poor light after they invoked the section against activists,
detractors, writers and even cartoonists. Since Independence, many have seen
the irony of retaining a provision that was used extensively to suppress the
freedom struggle. Despite all this, Section 124-A has tenaciously survived all attempts by successive generations to
reconsider it, if not repeal it altogether. The Law Commission, for the third
time in five decades, is now in the process of revisiting the section. Its
consultation paper calls for a thorough reconsideration and presents the
various issues related to it before the public for a national debate. In
particular, it has raised the pertinent
question: how far is it justified for India to retain an offence introduced by
the British to suppress the freedom struggle, when Britain itself abolished it
10 years ago? In an earlier report in 1968, the Law Commission had rejected the
idea of repealing the section. In 1971, the panel wanted the scope of the
section to be expanded to cover the Constitution, the legislature and the
judiciary, in addition to the government to be established by law, as
institutions against which ‘disaffection’ should not be tolerated. The only
dilution it mooted was to modify the
wide gap between the two jail terms prescribed in the section (either three
years or life) and fix the maximum sanction at seven years’ rigorous
imprisonment with fine.

The foremost objection to the provision
on sedition is that its definition remains too wide. ‘Overbroad’ definitions
typically cover both what is innocuous
and what is harmful. Under the present law, strong criticism against government
policies and personalities, slogans voicing disapprobation of leaders and stinging depictions of an
unresponsive or insensitive regime are all likely to be treated as ‘seditious’,
and not merely those that overtly threaten public order or constitute actual
incitement to violence. In fact, so mindless have some prosecutions been in
recent years that the core principle enunciated
by the Supreme Court — that the incitement to violence or tendency to
create public disorder are the essential ingredients of the offence — has been
forgotten. However, as long as sedition is seen as a reasonable restriction on
free speech on the ground of preserving public order, it will be difficult to
contain its mischief. There can only be two ways of undoing the harm it does to
citizens’ fundamental rights: it can be amended so that there is a much
narrower definition of what constitutes sedition, but the far better course is
to do away with it altogether.

1. Overhaul: (verb) पूरी मरम्मत

Meaning: take apart (a piece of
machinery or equipment) in order to examine it and repair it if necessary.

Synonyms: revamp, improve,
repair, renew

Antonyms: damage, destroy, break,
injure

2. Repeal: (verb) निरस्त करना

Meaning: revoke or annul (a law
or act of parliament).

Synonyms: abandon, abort,
rescind, scrub, scrap, abolish, abrogate

Antonyms: continue, enforce,
establish, sanction, validate

3. Trenchant: (adjective) तीव्र

Meaning: vigorous or incisive in
expression or style.

Synonyms: honed, stropped,
whetted, edged

Antonyms: blunt, dull, obtuse

4. Invoke: (verb) आह्वान करना

Meaning: cite or appeal to
(someone or something) as an authority for an action or in support of an
argument.

Synonyms: cite, adduce, instance

Antonyms: waive

5. Tenacious: (adjective) दृढ़

Meaning: tending to keep a firm
hold of something; clinging or adhering closely.

Synonyms: firm, clinging, forceful

Antonyms: loose, weak

6. Pertinent: (adjective) उचित

Meaning: relevant or applicable
to a particular matter; apposite.

Synonyms: apposite, applicable,
germane, appropriate

Antonyms: irrelevant,
inappropriate

7. Moot: (verb) विवादास्पद

Meaning: raise (a question or
topic) for discussion; suggest (an idea or possibility).

Synonyms: raise, broach, propose,
suggest

Antonyms: inarguable,
indisputable, indubitable

8. Innocuous: (adjective) अहानिकर

Meaning: not harmful or
offensive.

Synonyms: harmless, safe, benign,
anodyne

Antonyms: deleterious, noxious,
baneful, baleful, pernicious

9. Disapprobation: (noun) अमान्यता

Meaning: strong disapproval,
typically on moral grounds.

Synonyms: deprecation, disesteem,
disfavor, displeasure

Antonyms: approbation, approval,
favor

10. Enunciate: (verb) प्रतिपादन करना

Meaning: express (a proposition,
theory, etc.) in clear or definite terms.

Synonyms: affirm, articulate,
intone, propound, announce