Topic Of THE day:-“Denting fiscal autonomy”
The rhetoric here can sound forceful. But much of this begs the question. For instance, we don’t know so far why uniformity in tax or the creation of a single market is necessarily a good thing for a country like India. We aren’t told how this will make us happier, or how it will enhance the causes of liberty and equality, the bedrocks on which our Constitution is built. What we do know, however, is rather damaging: that the GST, far from being a case of “cooperative federalism”, is really an incursion into the authority that India’s States have been permitted under the Constitution. The resultant withering of the States’ fiscal independence strikes at the core of the Constitution’s basic structure which the Supreme Court has held is inviolable. The Constitution, as originally adopted, establishes a clear, federal arrangement. It prescribes two levels of government, one at the Centre and the other at each of the States. Although matters of national importance, such as foreign affairs and the defence of India, are assigned to the Union, the responsibilities placed on the States are also particularly salient. For instance, the power to legislate on public order, public health and sanitation, agriculture, water and land are all exclusively vested in the State governments. This authority, as Chief Justice Maurice Gwyer observed in the context of the division made under the Government of India Act, 1935, which the Constitution largely assumed, is no slight matter. “We must again refer to the fundamental proposition… that Indian Legislatures within their own sphere have plenary powers of legislation as large and of the same nature as those of Parliament itself,” wrote Gwyer, in Bhola Prasad v. R. As the constitutional scholar H.M. Seervai has said, if Gwyer’s statements were true in 1942, when he wrote them, they are certainly true now, when we have State legislatures functioning under a system of Cabinet government.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) Cherishing
Meaning: Keep (a hope or ambition) in one’s mind.
Example: He had long cherished a secret fantasy about his future.
Synonyms: Harbor, Have
Antonyms: Abandon
2) Enthralled
Meaning: Capture the fascinated attention of.
Example: She had been so enthralled by the adventure that she had hardly noticed the cold
Synonyms: Captivate, Charm
Antonyms: Bore, Repel
3) Waived
Meaning: Refrain from insisting on or using (a right or claim).
Example: He will waive all rights to the money.
Synonyms: Relinquish, Renounce
Antonyms: Claim, Pursue
4) Bedrocks
Meaning: The fundamental principles on which something is based.
Example: Honesty is the bedrock of a good relationship.
Synonyms: Core, Basis
5) Incursion
Meaning: An invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one.
Example: Incursions into enemy territory.
Synonyms: Attack on, Assault on
Antonyms: Retreat
6) Withering
Meaning: Cease to exist because no longer necessary after the dictatorship of the proletariat has implemented the necessary changes in society.
Example:The state in socialist societies has failed to wither away.
7) Inviolable
Meaning: Never to be broken, infringed, or dishonoured.
Example: An inviolable rule of chastity.
Synonyms: Inalienable, Absolute
Antonyms: Partial
8) Intricate
Meaning: Very complicated or detailed.
Example: An intricate network of canals.
Synonyms: Complex, Complicated
Antonyms: Simple, Straightforward
9) Uninhibited
Meaning: Not having been restrained or suppressed.
Example: Fits of uninhibited laughter.
Synonyms: Unrestrained, Unrepressed
Antonyms: Inhibited, Controlled
10) Tinkering
Meaning: Attempt to repair or improve something in a casual or desultory way.
Example: He spent hours tinkering with the car.
Synonyms: Try to mend/ improve
11) Endeavouring
Meaning: Try hard to do or achieve something.
Example: He is endeavouring to help the Third World.
Synonyms: Try, Attempt
12) Concomitant
Meaning: A phenomenon that naturally accompanies or follows something.
Example: He sought promotion without the necessary concomitant of hard work”.
Synonyms: Attendant, Associated
Antonyms: Unrelated
13) Effectuate
Meaning: Put into force or operation.
Example: School choice would effectuate a transfer of power from government to individuals.
14) Subsumed
Meaning: Include or absorb (something) in something else.
Example: Most of these phenomena can be subsumed under two broad categories
15) Adjudicate
Meaning: Pronounce or declare judicially.
Example:He was adjudicated bankrupt.
16) Dispute
Meaning: A disagreement or argument.
Example: A territorial dispute between the two countries.
Synonyms: Debate, Discussion
Antonyms:Agreement
17) Meticulously
Meaning: In a way that shows great attention to detail; very thoroughly.
Example: A meticulously researched book
18) Devised
Meaning: Plan or invent (a complex procedure, system, or mechanism) by careful thought.
Example: a training programme should be devised.
Synonyms:Conceive, Think up
19) Obligatory
Meaning: Required by a legal, moral, or other rule; compulsory.
Example: Use of seat belts in cars is now obligatory.
Synonyms: Compulsory, Mandatory
Antonyms:Voluntary, Optional
20) Befitting
Meaning: Appropriate to the occasion.
Example: A country which can run the prestigious tournament in a befitting manner.
Synonyms: In keeping with, as befits
Antonyms:Out of keeping with
21) Onslaught
Meaning: A fierce or destructive attack.
Example: A series of onslaughts on the citadel.
Synonyms:Assault, Attack
22) Incumbent
Meaning: Necessary for (someone) as a duty or responsibility.
Example: The government realized that it was incumbent on them to act.
Synonyms: Binding, Obligatory
Antonyms:Optional
