A Unique Way of Learning Vocabulary from Leading Newspaper (The Hindu)

Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill: In a safer lane’ has been picked from The Hindu

The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill passed by the Lok Sabha this week will take a little more time to come into force, since it has not cleared the Rajya Sabha in the Budget session. But the changes that it proposes to the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act of 1988 are significant. The Centre assumes a direct role in the reforms, since it will introduce guidelines that bind State governments in several areas, notably in creating a framework for taxicab aggregators, financing insurance to treat the injured and to compensate families of the dead in hit-and-run cases, prescribing standards for electronically monitoring highways and urban roads for enforcement and modernising driver licensing. There is a dire need to have clear rules and transparent processes in all these areas, since transport bureaucracies have remained unresponsive to the needs of a growing economy that is witnessing a steady rise in motorisation. The bottleneck created by their lack of capacity has stifled regulatory reform in the transport sector and only encouraged corruption. There is some concern that the move to amend the MV Act overly emphasises the concurrent jurisdiction of the Centre at the cost of State powers, but the proposed changes come after a long consultation exercise. A group of State Transport Ministers went into the reform question last year, while the comprehensive recommendations of the Sundar Committee on road safety have been left on the back burner for nearly a decade.

It may appear counter-intuitive, but research shows that imposing stricter penalties tends to reduce the level of enforcement of road rules. As the IIT Delhi’s Road Safety in India report of 2015 points out, the deterrent effect of law depends on the severity and swiftness of penalties, but also the perception that the possibility of being caught for violations is high. The amendments to the MV Act set enhanced penalties for several offences, notably drunken driving, speeding, jumping red lights and so on, but periodic and ineffective enforcement, which is the norm, makes it less likely that these will be uniformly applied. Without an accountable and professional police force, the ghastly record of traffic fatalities, which stood at 1,46,133 in 2015, is unlikely to change. On another front, State governments must prepare for an early roll-out of administrative reforms prescribed in the amended law, such as issuing learner’s licences online, recording address changes through an online application, and electronic service delivery with set deadlines. Indeed, to eliminate corruption, all applications should be accepted by transport departments online, rather than merely computerising them. Protection from harassment for good samaritans who help accident victims is something the amended law provides, and this needs to be in place.

IMPORTANT WORDS AND THEIR MEANINGS

1) Prescribing (विहित) - Pris-cribe-ing

Meaning - (of a medical practitioner) advise and authorize the use of (a medicine or treatment) for someone, especially in writing - Verb
Synonyms - define, determine
Antonyms - confuse, disallow
Example - Instead of banning, we prescribe age restrictions,

2) Stifled (दबाया) - Sty-fil-edMeaning - make (someone) unable to breathe properly; suffocate - Verb
Synonyms - suffocate, suppress
Antonyms - allow, encourage
Example - A company that stifles innovation can't hope to grow very much.

3) Emphasises (पर जोर देती है) -  Im-pha-sizeMeaning - give special importance or value to (something) in speaking or writing - Verb
Synonyms - affirm, assert
Antonyms - deny, lose
Example - I want to emphasize the need to get this done on time.

4) Concurrent (समवर्ती) - Cun-currentMeaning - existing, happening, or done at the same time - Adjective
Synonyms - simultaneous, coincident
Antonyms - disagreeing, divergent
Example - Two video games were developed and released concurrent with the film.

5) Intuitive (सहज ज्ञान युक्त) - In-tui-itiveMeaning - using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive - Adjective
Synonyms - emotional, perceptive
Antonyms - calculated, taught
Example - The intuitive police officer could tell the woman was trying to hide something from him.

6) Deterrent (निवारक) - Latt-eral

Meaning - a thing that discourages or is intended to discourage someone from doing something - Nounable or intended to deter - Adjective
Synonyms - hindrance, obstacle
Antonyms - assistance, incentive
Example - Right now the only deterrent, you have is to fly home.

7) Ghastly (भयंकर) - Ghast-lyMeaning - causing great horror or fear - Adjective
Synonyms - awful, grim
Antonyms - beautiful, good
Example - That is the lesson of last week's ghastly events.

Word of the Day

• Eventually (अंत में) - Event-u-lly
• Meaning - in the end, especially after a long delay, dispute, or series of problems - Adverb
• Synonyms - finally, someday
• Antonyms - never
• Example (English) - The criminal disclosed all the facts of the case eventually.
• Example (Hindi) - अंततः अपराधी ने मामले के सभी तथ्यों को उजागर कर दिया।

Now considering the article above as a Reading Comprehension question, try to answer the following - 

• How the decision will help our economy?

Given below are some words to check your vocabulary you can make sentences with those words in the comment section which will be reviewed by us.

• Significant
• Reforms
• Unresponsive
• Witnessing