The Hindu Editorial (Linear regression) – Aug 03, 2023

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The Hindu Editorial (Linear regression) – Aug 03, 2023:

linear (adjective) – direct, straight.
regression (noun) – a return to a previous lower state; a return to a less developed condition; retrogression, reversion, backsliding, relapse.
findings (noun) – conclusion arrived at (as a result of an inquiry).
prima facie (adjective) – “It is a Latin expression meaning ‘at first sight/look/view’, at firs appearance, based on first impression. It may be used as an adjective meaning ‘sufficient to establish a fact or raise a presumption unless disproved or rebutted’. It is used for a belief that is accepted as correct until proven otherwise; It literally means ‘at first face’.
suspension (noun) – removal, elimination, termination, exclusion, debarment.
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) (noun) – The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) serves as a regional Institute for Training and Research in Population Studies for the (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) ESCAP region. It was established in Mumbai in July 1956, till July 1970 it was known as the Demographic Training and Research Centre (DTRC). The IIPS works under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and conducts important studies like the National Family Health Survey, Assessment of National Rural Health Mission, and the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS) (noun) – a large-scale, multi-round survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India. Three rounds of the survey have been conducted since the first survey in 1992-93. The survey provides state and national information for India on fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anemia, utilization and quality of health and family planning services.
spot (verb) – notice, observe, see, discern, recognize, perceive.
vindictive (adjective) – vengeful, revengeful, avenging, ill-disposed, acrimonious, bitter.
motive (noun) – reason, rationale, cause, grounds.
hostile (adjective) – ill-disposed, unsympathetic, inimical; aggressive, spiteful, bitter, unkind.
rather than (phrase) – instead of.
National Family Health Survey 2019-20 (NFHS-5) (noun) – the fifth in the NFHS series, NFHS-5 conducted in 2019-20, provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India and each state and union territory. All five NFHS surveys have been conducted under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India.
debunk (verb) – to expose something (an idea/argument) as being false; discredit, disprove, invalidate, negate, refute, rebut, disconfirm, confute, prove to be false, challenge
claim (noun) – assertion, profession, affirmation, declaration (that something is true).
Open Defecation Free (ODF) (noun) – a term used to describe communities that have shifted to using toilets instead of open defecation. Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) defined ODF as: ODF is the termination of faecal oral transmission, defined by: 1. No visible faeces found in the environment/village; and 2. every household as well as public/community institutions using safe technology option for disposal of faeces.
defecation (noun) – excretion, discharging faeces/stools/bodily waste.
household (noun) – family, house.
National Statistical Office (NSO) (noun) – The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation came into existence as an independent Ministry on 15th October 1999 after the merger of the Department of Statistics and the Department of Programme Implementation. The Ministry has two wings, one relating to Statistics and the other relating to Programme Implementation. The Statistics Wing re-designated as National Statistics Office (NSO) consists of the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). CSO is an attached Office and NSSO is subordinate Office under the control of Ministry of S&PI.
National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) (noun) – The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) was designed to verify the sanitation related indicators which primarily focuses on availability and access to the safe, hygienic and functional sanitation facilities and solid and liquid waste (SLWM) management practices. NARSS is a cross-sectional survey and covers ODF and Non-ODF sampled rural PSUs across 29 states & 3 UTs in India.
sanitation (noun) – it generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces.
Multiple Indicator Survey (MIS) (noun) – The National Sample Survey Office NSSO conducts the ‘Multiple Indicator Survey (MIS)’ covering the entire country. The primary objective of the MIS was to collect data for generation of some important national indicators of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It also collects information on Purchase/Construction of house(s)/ flat(s) by the household for residential purpose after 31.03.2014 and information on Migration.
anaemia (noun) – a decrease in the total amount of red blood cells (RBCs) or hemoglobin in the blood.
lack (verb) – be without, be in need of, be short of, require, need.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (noun) – a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases in liquid form used as fuel in heating appliances, cooking equipment, and vehicles.
natural gas (noun) – colourless, odorless highly flammable gaseous hydrocarbon consisting primarily of methane and ethane occurring naturally underground. It is a fossil fuel formed from the remains of plants and animals.
draw/call into question (phrase) – make something seem less certain.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) (noun) – a social welfare scheme envisages of smoke free Rural India and aims to benefit five crore families especially the women living below poverty line (BPL) by providing concessional LPG connections to entire nation. The scheme will increase the usage of LPG and would help in reducing health disorders, air pollution and deforestation.
transpire (verb) – happen, occur, take place, emerge, come to light, turn out, materialize, be made public.
revealing (noun) – interesting, significant, suggestive, expressive, indicative, informative, telling, disclosing, meaningful.
junk (verb) – throw away, discard, abandon/get rid of.
Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) (noun) – The CES is traditionally a quinquennial (recurring every five years) survey conducted by the government’s National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) that is designed to collect information on the consumption spending patterns of households across the country, both urban and rural. The data gathered in this exercise reveals the average expenditure on goods (food and non-food) and services and helps generate estimates of household Monthly Per Capita Consumer Expenditure (MPCE) as well as the distribution of households and persons over the MPCE classes.
ostensibly (adverb) – in a way that something appears or is officially stated to be true/real, but it might not be; apparently, seemingly, allegedly, professedly, supposedly, purportedly.
indices plural of index (noun) – a data figure reflecting something compared with a standard or base value; pointer, indicator.
inflation (noun) – simply meaning “cost of living”; increase of price level of goods & services and vice versa decrease of currency value.
peg (verb) – to guess the price, rate, index, level, or amount of something; attach, identify, categorize.
National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) (noun) – The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) was set up in 1950, with the idea of having a permanent survey organization to collect data on various facets of the economy. As per the government announcement dated May 23, 2019, that the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) is merged with the Central Statistics Office to form the National Statistical Office (NSO).
Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) (noun) – National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) had been conducting surveys on employment and unemployment on quinquennial (five-yearly) basis. However, considering the need for availability of such statistics at more frequent intervals, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has launched a regular employment-unemployment survey, namely, ‘Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)’. The PLFS has been launched from April, 2017 with the objective to provide quarterly changes of various indicators of the labour market for urban areas and the annual estimates of different labour force indicators for both rural and urban areas, at State/UT and all India level.
periodic (adjective) – regular, frequent, repeated, cyclical, sporadic, recurrent.
National Statistical Commission (NSC) (noun) – The Government of India through a resolution dated 1st June, 2005 set up the National Statistical Commission (NSC). The setting up of the NSC followed the decision of the Cabinet to accept the recommendations of the Rangarajan Commission, which reviewed the Indian Statistical System in 2001. The NSC was constituted with effect from 12th July 2006 with a mandate to evolve policies, priorities and standards in statistical matters. The NSC has four Members besides a Chairperson, each having specialization and experience in specified statistical fields.
hold back (phrasal verb) – withhold, conceal, hide, keep hidden, sit on, refuse to give, fail to disclose,
result in (verb) – cause, lead to, bring about, give rise to.
acting (adjective) – interim, temporary, stand-in, provisional, substitute.
interference (noun) – involvement, intervention.
NITI Aayog (noun) – The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015. NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs. (Think tank is a panel of experts who provide advice and ideas on political, social or economic issues).
The Planning Commission (noun) – The Planning Commission was an institution in the Government of India established in 1950, which formulated India’s Five-Year Plans, among other functions to oversee the country’s economic and social development. The Planning Commission was replaced by NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) in 2015 to act as a think tank.
back series data (noun) – the Central Statistics Office (CSO) changed the method by which it calculated GDP in 2014-15. The CSO essentially changed the base year for calculation from 2004-2005 to 2011-2012. All GDP data released from 2015 onwards used the new methodology. The ‘back series data’ is essentially calculating what India’s GDP would have been in the earlier years (before it changed the way it calculated the GDP) using the new methodology. In the new series, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) did away with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at factor cost, and adopted the international practice of valuing industry-wise estimates as gross value added (GVA) at basic prices.
Gross domestic product (GDP) (noun) – a measure of economic activity in a country. It is the total value of a country’s annual output of goods and service.
contradict (verb) – conflict with, be at odds with, be at variance with, disagree with, be inconsistent with.
undermine (verb) – weaken, subvert, sabotage, damage.
Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) (noun) – it is an independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister.
sought past tense of seek (verb) – aim, attempt, try.
discredit (verb) – disprove, prove wrong/false, invalidate, deny, reject, debunk.
unduly (adverb) – inordinately, excessively, immoderately, disproportionately, unreasonably, unjustifiably.
decennial (adjective) – recurring every ten years.
census (noun) – an official survey, particularly of a population.
in limbo (phrase) – unresolved, in a state of/uncertainty/suspension, postponed.
limbo (noun) – uncertain situation or state; a state of uncertainty.
measure (noun) – action, act, step, move.
shenanigans (plural noun) – silly/dishonest behaviour, deception, double-dealing, dishonesty, wickedness, horseplay, monkey business, mischief
bode well/ill (verb) – augur, indicate, portend (a good/bad outcome).
robust (adjective) – strong, powerful, solidly built.
subject to (verb) – put through, expose to, lay open to, submit to, treat with.
strain (noun) – pressure, stress, demand/burden.
explosion (noun) – sudden increase, rapid increase, dramatic increase, escalation, multiplication, snowballing, mushrooming, rocketing.