The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary – Set 41

The Hindu Editorial Vocabulary Words with Meanings for various Exams: SBI PO/Clerk, IBPS PO/Clerk, RRB, RBI, LIC, NABARD, SEBI, SSC, UPSC, IPPB, etc.

We are providing vocabulary words from the Editorial articles The Hindu newspaper which is important for all upcoming competitive exams. Add some more words to your English vocabulary words list.

TOPIC – A patently wrong regime

Even an unprecedented pandemic can do little, it appears, to upset the existing global regime governing monopoly rights over the production and distribution of life­saving drugs. If anything, since the onset of COVID­19, we’ve only seen a reaffirmation of intellectual property rules that have served as a lethal barrier to the right to access healthcare over the last few decades. The neo­liberal order, under which these laws exist, is so intractable today that a matter as seemingly simple as a request for a waiver on patent protections is seen as a claim unworthy of exception. On October 2 last year, India and South Africa submitted a joint petition to the World Trade Organization (WTO), requesting a temporary suspension of rules under the 1995 Agreement on Trade­Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). A waiver was sought to the extent that the protections offered by TRIPS impinged on the containment and treatment of COVID­19. As we now know, quick and efficient vaccination is the surest route to achieving global herd immunity against the virus. Should the appeal for a waiver be allowed, countries will be in a position, among other things, to facilitate a free exchange of know-how and technology surrounding the production of vaccines. The request for a waiver has, since, found support from more than 100 nations. But a small group of states — the U.S., the European Union, the U.K., and Canada among them — continues to block the move. Their reluctance comes despite these countries having already secured the majority of available vaccines, with the stocks that they hold far exceeding the amounts necessary to inoculate the whole of their populations. Their decision is all the more galling when one considers the fact that for the rest of the world mass immunisation is a distant dream. Reports suggest that for most poor countries it would take until at least 2024 before widespread vaccination is achieved. A patent is conferral by the state of an exclusive right to make, use and sell an inventive product or process. Patent laws are usually justified on three distinct grounds: on the idea that people have something of a natural and moral right to claim control over their inventions; on the utilitarian premise that exclusive licenses promote invention and therefore benefit society as a whole; and on the belief that individuals must be allowed to benefit from the fruits of their labour and merit, that when a person toils to produce an object, the toil and the object become inseparable. Each of these justifications has long been a matter of contest, especially in the application of claims of monopoly over pharmaceutical drugs and technologies.

  The Hindu Editorial Words with meanings, synonyms, and antonyms 

 

Reaffirmation (noun) –  a reassertion or confirmation of a fact or belief

Synonyms – confirmation, reiteration, acknowledgement, verification

Antonyms – arguing, challenge, disapproval, hinder

 

Lethal (adjective) – that can cause death or great damage

Synonyms – deadly, fatal, toxic, poisonous, pernicious

Antonyms – harmless, beneficial, restorative, salubrious

 

Waiver (noun) – a situation in which somebody gives up a legal claim or right

Synonyms – renunciation, abandonment, relinquishment, abdication

Antonyms – accept, claim, acquiesce, confirmation, dexter

 

Impinged (verb) – advance beyond the usual limit

Synonyms – encroach, entrench, invade, affect, violate

Antonyms – dodge, avoid, extol, enhancement, reflect

 

Reluctance (noun) – a certain degree of unwillingness

Synonyms – hesitation, disinclination, repugnance, distaste, disrelish

Antonyms – enthusiasm, alacrity, inclination, appetite, certainty

 

Inoculate (verb) – to protect a person or animal from disease by giving him/her/it a mild form of the disease with a needle which is put under the skin

Synonyms – immunize, vaccinate, infuse, indoctrinate, impregnate

Antonyms – endanger, imperil, jeopardize, threaten

 

Galling (verb) – to make somebody feel upset and angry

Synonyms – irritating, vexatious, irksome, bothersome, teasing

Antonyms – comforting, sedative, narcotic, gratifying

 

Conferral (noun) – the act of conferring honor or presenting a gift

Synonyms – bestowal, conferment, assignment, assigning

Antonyms – beg, denial, deprivation, ignore, swindle

 

Utilitarian (adjective) – designed and intended to be practical and useful rather than attractive

Synonyms – functional, pragmatic, realistic, expedient, effective

Antonyms – unnecessary, impractical, ineffective, posh

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