Topic Of The Day:-“Learning from ASEAN”
It will also be impossible to renew the compact with the neighbours without reviving the SAARC process. In their book The ASEAN Miracle, Kishore Mahbubani and Jeffery Sng describe in detail the need for SAARC to learn from the success of ASEAN. Mr. Mahbubani suggests that leaders of SAARC countries meet more often informally, that they interfere less in the internal workings of each other’s governments, and that there be more interaction at every level of government. They also say that just as Indonesia, the biggest economy in the ASEAN, allowed smaller countries such as Singapore to take the lead, India too must take a back seat in decision-making, enabling others to build a more harmonious SAARC process.
“It is much safer to be feared than to be loved,” wrote Niccolo Machiavelli, “when one of the two must be wanting.” The government’s challenge is to steer India towards a course where it is both feared and loved in appropriate measure, and away from a situation in which it is neither feared nor loved.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) Reviving
Meaning: Restore to life or consciousness.
Example: “Both men collapsed, but were revived”
Synonyms: Resuscitate, Bring round
2) Harmonious
Meaning: Free from disagreement or dissent.
Example: “Harmonious relationships”
Synonyms: Friendly, Amicable
Antonyms: Hostile
3) Steer
Meaning: Guide or control the movement of (a vehicle, vessel, or aircraft), for example by turning a wheel or operating a rudder.
Example: “He steered the boat slowly towards the busy quay”
Synonyms: Guide, Direct
