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 in The Hindu newspaper which is important for all the upcoming competitive exams. Add some more words to your English vocabulary words list.
TOPIC – Policy creep
Barely 11 months after the Government notified the Consumer Protection (ECommerce) Rules, 2020, the Department of Consumer Affairs has mooted a set of sweeping amendments, ostensibly “to protect the interests of consumers… and encourage free and fair competition in the market”. Among them is a norm stipulating the appointment of a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person for 24×7 coordination with law enforcement agencies, and another requiring ecommerce entities offering imported goods or services to ‘incorporate a filter mechanism to identify goods based on country of origin and suggest alternatives to ensure a fair opportunity to domestic goods. A third mandates a fallback liability on online market places in the event of non-delivery of goods or services to the consumer. Registration has also been made mandatory for all ecommerce players; specific ‘flash sales’, including ‘back-to-back’ ones, are set to be banned; and all entities must provide information within 72 hours on any request made by an authorized government agency probing any breach of the law including cybersecurity issues. While on the face of it none of these new rules appears exceptionable, especially when ecommerce tops the National Consumer Helpline’s complaints chart, there is still a distinctly discernible pattern to the changes. Following on the heels of the recent IT ( Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, the draft ecommerce amendments show the Government’s increasing keenness to exercise greater oversight over all online platforms. The Centre also appears to be signaling its intent to dig in its heels in an intensifying standoff with Walmart’s unit Flipkart, and Amazon, which is both now in court battling an attempt by the Competition Commission of India to reopen a probe into their business practices. The two large ecommerce players have had to contend with accusations that their pricing practices are skewed to favor select sellers on their platforms and that their discounting policies have hurt offline retailers. The fact that the latest changes expressly seek to ensure that none of an ecommerce entity’s ‘related parties and associated enterprises is enlisted as a seller for sale to consumers directly’ could also impact several platforms that retail products supplied by vendors with arm’s length ties. The enforcement of many of these norms is bound to spur protracted legal fights. Asserting that the amendments were not aimed at conventional flash sales, the Government said it was only targeting certain entities engaged in limiting consumer choice by indulging in ‘back-to-back’ sales wherein a seller does not have the capability to meet an order. In trying to address shortcomings in its rules from last year, the Government appears to be harking back to an era of tight controls. Overregulation with scope for interpretative ambiguity risks retarding growth and job creation in the hitherto expanding ecommerce sector.
The Hindu Editorial Words with meanings, synonyms, and antonyms
Mooted (verb) – To suggest an idea that is to be considered or discussed by people
Synonyms – Debate, deliberate, ventilated, agitated, cogitated
Antonyms – Disregard, restrain, withhold, hinder, halt
Ostensibly (adverb) – From appearances alone
Synonyms – Outwardly, superficially, evidently, flimsily, alleged
Antonyms – Improbably, trivially, authentically, concretely, obscurely
Discernible (adjective) – Capable of being seen
Synonyms – Perceivable, conspicuous, palpable, blatant, overt
Antonyms – Faint, indiscernible, vague, cagey, sixpenny
Intensifying (adjective) – Increasing in strength
Synonyms – Cumulative, escalating, aggravating, enhancive, augment
Antonyms – Abating, alleviative, frumpish, palliative, attrition
Contend (verb) – Have an argument about something
Synonyms – Assert, insist, grapple, aver, strive
Antonyms – Acquiesce, cede, assail, capitulate, controvert
Accusations (noun) – An assertion that someone is guilty of a fault
Synonyms – Recrimination, indictments, citations, denunciations, litigations
Antonyms – Tributes, pleas, verdicts, compliments, arguments
Skewed (adjective) – Having an oblique
Synonyms – Biased, slanted, awry, crooked, prejudiced
Antonyms – Coextensive, congruous, detached, incontinently
Protracted (adjective) – Relatively long in duration
Synonyms – Prolix, deferred, verbose, elongate, persistent
Antonyms – Fleeting, boisterous, miniature, paltry, meager
Ambiguity (noun) – An expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context
Synonyms – Equivocation, obscurity, enigma, dubiety, incertitude
Antonyms – Explicitness, lucidity, perspicuity, articulateness, limpidity
Retarding (verb) – To delay something or make its development or progress slower
Synonyms – Decelerate, impede, stalling, impeding, procrastinating
Antonyms – Begetting, effectuating, invoking, spawning, hastening
Hitherto (adverb) – Used in negative statement to describe a situation that has existed up to this point
Synonyms – Beforehand, erstwhile, heretofore, up till now
Antonyms – Bubbling, thenceforward, effervescent, fizzy, jittery