The Hindu Editorial (Glaring omission) – Aug 14, 2023

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The Hindu Editorial (Glaring omission) – Aug 14, 2023:

glaring (adjective) – evident, flagrant, blatant, obvious.
omission (noun) – deletion, elimination, exclusion, erasure, non-inclusion, negligence, neglect, oversight.
import (noun) – importance, significance, consequence, weight; message, meaning, essence. substance.
the executive (noun) – the executive is a branch of government which enforces the law as written by the legislature and interpreted by the judiciary.
panel (noun) – group, committee, council, commission, board.
subserve (verb) – help, assist, aid (to promote).
objective (noun) – aim, intention, purpose.
watchdog (noun) – a person or organization that monitors/inspects/supervises others’ activities/conducts. inspector/supervisor, observer, ombudsman.
Bill (noun) – A Bill is a draft statute that becomes law after it is passed. All legislative proposals are brought before Parliament in the forms of Bills (or) draft statute/law, proposed legislation, proposal (presented to parliament/congress/council for discussion).
run counter to (phrase) – contradict, conflict with, disagree with, be inconsistent with; to have an opposite effect.
bench (noun) – a court of law with a number of judges.
Constitution Bench (noun) – a bench of the Supreme Court having five or more judges on it. These benches are not a routine phenomenon. Constitution Benches are exceptions, set up only if some circumstances exist).
Division Bench (noun) – a bench of two or three judges is called a division bench.
envisage (verb) – conceive, imagine, envision, think, perceive, apprehend.
independent (adjective) – self-governing, autonomous, non-aligned.
in line with (phrase) – in accordance with, in agreement with, in tune with.
Dinesh Goswami Committee on Electoral Reforms, 1990 (noun) – This committee was set up to examine some of the suggestions made by an inter-political party meeting convened under the chairmanship of former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh on January 9, 1990. Chaired by the then Law Minister, Dinesh Goswami, this committee gave its recommendations on a broad range of topics, such as the constitution of the Election Commission, securing its independence and appropriate management of electoral rolls, among other things.
Justice Tarkunde Committee, 1975 (noun) – In 1974, Jayaprakash Narayan, on behalf of Citizen for Democracy constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice V.M. Tarkunde, to review the present electoral system and to suggest suitable electoral reforms. The Committee made the following recommendation: a) The Election Commission should be appointed by the President on the advice of a Committee consisting of the PM, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. b) The Committee recommended the formation of Voter’s Council in as many constituencies as possible, which can help in free and fair election. c) The Election Commission should be a three-member body. d) The minimum age for voting should be 18 years.
hold good (phrase) – hold true, remain true, remain valid, to be applicable, to be valid.
constitution (noun) – body of law; system of rules; regulations, fundamental principles, charter.
The Constitution of India (noun) – India, also known as Bharat, is a Union of States. It is a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic with a parliamentary system of government. The Republic is governed in terms of the Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26th November, 1949 and came into force on 26th January, 1950.
amount to (verb) – be equal to, be equivalent to, be tantamount to, represent.
disregard (verb) – ignore, pay no attention to, pay no heed to, reject, deny, overlook, dismiss, shrug off, set aside.
spirit (noun) – real/true meaning, true intention, essence, substance.
presence (noun) – the condition of being present; existence, appearance.
pre-emptive (adjective) – preventive, precautionary, protective.
legitimacy (noun) – reasonableness, justification, validity.
scrutiny (noun) – examination, inspection, investigation.
infirmity (noun) – weakness, feebleness, impairment; unsteadiness, hesitation, instability.
weigh against (phrasal verb) – compare with, evaluate, examine, juxtapose with, place side by side.
the fact that (phrase) – used to refer to a specific situation under consideration/discussion.
constitutional (adjective) – relating to the Constitution; legitimate, legal, lawful.
constitutional body (noun) – a body or institute which is established by the Constitution of India. A Constitutional body has either complete independence or functional independence when discharging their constitutional obligations.
render (verb) – perform, display, act, play, contribute, represent.
quasi-judicial (adjective) – relating to the actions by any non-judicial body or government entity in which there are hearings, orders, judgements and other activities similar to those conducted by courts.
embody (verb) – include, consolidate, encompass, assimilate, integrate.
insulation (noun) – protection, shelter, shield.
preponderance (noun) – dominance, ascendancy, leadership, mastery, supremacy, control, sway, power.
make sense (phrase) – be justifiable, be practicable, be clear, be understandable.
non-partisan (adjective) – unbiased, unprejudiced, impartial, disinterested, neutral, fair-minded, even-handed, non-discriminatory.
sine qua non (noun) – essential condition; literally means “without which not” in Latin.
robustness (noun) – strongness, strength, power.
electoral democracy (noun) – it describes a democratic government based on a system that enables all citizens to select one candidate from a list of competitors for political office. The process is called an election. Each citizen becomes a voter who casts a secret ballot with their choices.
play a part/role (phrase) – contribute to, be instrumental in, be a factor in.
seminal (adjective) – pioneering, influential, innovative, major, important.
periodic (adjective) – regular, frequent, repeated, cyclical, sporadic, recurrent.
participation (noun) – engagement, involvement, taking part, contribution.
electorate (noun) – all the people who entitled to vote in an election.
fair (adjective) – just, equitable, fair-minded, upright, trustworthy.
misgiving (noun) – doubt, qualm, distrust, mistrust, suspicion, apprehension, lack of faith/confidence.
run-up to (noun) – a period of time just before an important event.
Model Code of Conduct (MCC) (noun) – a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission of India for conduct of political parties and candidates during elections.
unevenly (adverb) – unequally, differently, lopsidedly, asymmetrically, oppositely.
favourable (adjective) – advantageous, beneficial, suitable, helpful, convenient.
lead to (verb) – cause, result in, bring about, bring on, give rise to, produce.
dissent (noun) – disagreement, difference of opinion, opposition.
V-Dem Institute (or) Varieties of Democracy project (V-DEM) (noun) – an independent research institute founded in 2014 and is funded by a number of government organizations, World Bank and several research institutions. The headquarters of the project is based at the department of political science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. We provide a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond the simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between five high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian, and collects data to measure these principles.
downgrade (verb) – lower, reduce, minimize.
autocracy (noun) – dictatorship, monocracy, authoritarianism, tyranny, totalitarianism, despotism
cite (verb) – refer to, adduce, invoke, point to, mention.
autonomy (noun) – independence, freedom (from external control/influence); self-determination.
incumbent on (adjective) – binding, obligatory, mandatory, necessary, compulsory, imperative.