Topic Of The Day:-“The Peace Holds: On Assam Blasts Case Verdict”
A harsher penalty in the 2008 Assam serial blasts case could have led to wider trouble
Rocked by protests against the Centre’s proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Assam’s Bodo-populated areas were on edge for another reason last week. Over a decade after nine serial bombsripped through four towns, the clamour for the death penalty to be awarded to theperpetrators had put the State on alert, after a district and sessions court set up for the CBI case had convicted 14 of them. The October 30, 2008 bombings exacted a severe toll. Eighty-eight deaths, 53 of them in Guwahati, with 540 injured, it was argued, passed the Supreme Court’s ‘rarest of the rare’ test. And yet, mindful of the “entire facts and circumstances of the case”, the judge on January 30 sentenced 10 of the convicted, including Ranjan Daimary, to life and handed out limited terms to the others. Most of the convicts belong to a faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland, of which Daimary is the chairman. The NDFB(R) has had a ceasefire agreement with the Assam and Union governments since May 2005. The NDFB (Progressive), led by Gobinda Basumatary, is also in peace talks. Recent incidents in Bodo areas — including the May and December 2014 attacks against Muslim migrants and Adivasis, in which over 100 civilians were killed — have been attributed to the rebel NDFB faction, led earlier by I.K. Songbijit and now by B. Saoraigwra.These groups and their predecessors, many of which have given up arms and joined the formal political process, espouse causes ranging from secession to a Bodoland State carved out of Assam. The violent phase peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but ebbed with the creation of the Bodoland Territorial Council in 2003. It absorbed the likes of Hagrama Mohilary, formerly a Bodo Liberation Tigers militant, whose Bodoland People’s Front has been an alliance partner of both the erstwhile Congress-led State government and the current BJP regime of Sarbananda Sonowal. While NDFB(R) supporters chanted slogans demanding Bodoland to protest against the judicial order, a death sentence for Daimary could have sparked wider convulsions, and pushed some of the fringe groups back into militancy, creating a 1990s redux. The BJP has backed the creation of smaller States, but Bodoland is unlikely to be realised any time soon. The Bodo case for statehood is also hamstrung by the fact that non-Bodos account for nearly 70% of the population in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts that will comprise the core of such a State. New Delhi is focussing instead on devolving more powers with its constitution amendment Bill — likely to be introduced in Parliament this week — to bring 10 autonomous district councils under the purview of the Central Finance Commission. Along with ideologically agnostic partnerships with the State government in Dispur, this is the way forward for now.
MEANINGS AND WORDS
1) ripped
Meaning : under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs(adj).
Synonyms : burst
Antonyms : sew
Example : “at the dress rehearsal, he was so ripped he couldn’t stand upright”
2) perpetrators
Meaning : a person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act.
Synonyms : assassin
Example : “the perpetrators of this horrific crime must be brought to justice”
3) convicted
Meaning : having been declared guilty of a criminal offence by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge.
Synonyms : imprison
Antonyms : release
Example : “a convicted murderer”
4) exacted
Meaning : demand and obtain (something) from someone.
Synonyms : compel
Antonyms : give
Example : “he exacted promises that another Watergate would never be allowed to happen”
5) faction
Meaning : a small organized dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics.
Synonyms : minority
Antonyms : individual
Example : “the left-wing faction of the party”
6) espouse
Meaning : adopt or support (a cause, belief, or way of life).
Synonyms : defend
Antonyms : attack
Example : “she espoused the causes of justice and freedom for all”
7) carved
Meaning : (of a hard material) cut or engraved to produce an object, design, or inscription.
Synonyms : engraved
Antonyms : uncarved
Example : “bookcases of carved oak”
8) ebbed
Meaning : (of tidewater) move away from the land; recede.
Synonyms : deteriorate
Antonyms : expand
Example : “the tide began to ebb”
9) regime
Meaning : a government, especially an authoritarian one.
Synonyms : reign
Antonyms : disorder
Example : “ideological opponents of the regime”
10) chanted
Meaning : say or shout repeatedly in a sing-song tone(v).
Synonyms : intone
Example : “protesters were chanting slogans”
11) convulsions
Meaning : a sudden, violent, irregular movement of the body, caused by involuntary contraction of muscles and associated especially with brain disorders such as epilepsy(n).
Synonyms : contraction
Antonyms : harmony
Example : “toxic side effects like convulsions”
12) fringe
Meaning : an ornamental border of threads left loose or formed into tassels or twists, used to edge clothing or material(n).
Synonyms : edge
Antonyms : center
Example : “a long grey skirt with a fringe”
13) purview
Meaning : the scope of the influence or concerns of something.
Synonyms : attention
Antonyms : blindness
Example : “such a case might be within the purview of the legislation”
14) comprise
Meaning : consist of; be made up of.
Synonyms : compose
Antonyms : abandon
Example : “the country comprises twenty states”
15) agnostic
Meaning : relating to agnostics or agnosticism.
Synonyms : infidel
Antonyms : believer
16) hamstrung
Meaning : severely restrict the efficiency or effectiveness of(v).
Synonyms : cripple
Antonyms : allow
Example : “we were hamstrung by a total lack of knowledge”
17) clamour
Meaning : a loud and confused noise, especially that of people shouting.
Synonyms : commotion
Antonyms : silence
Example : “the questions rose to a clamour”
18) provision
Meaning : the action of providing or supplying something for use(n).
Synonyms : arrangement
Antonyms : removal
Example : “new contracts for the provision of services”
19) attributed
Meaning : regard something as being caused by.
Synonyms : apply
Antonyms : disconnect
Example : “he attributed the firm’s success to the efforts of the managing director”
20) erstwhile
Meaning : former(adj).
Synonyms : once
Example : “the erstwhile president of the company”
21) realised
Meaning : become fully aware of (something) as a fact; understand clearly(v).
Synonyms : completed
Antonyms : confused
Example : “he realized his mistake at once”