Editorial #011

THE HINDU EDITORIAL 

Reserve bank of India governor Urjit Patel’s emphasis जोर  on the vital importance of protecting domestic macroeconomic व्यापक आर्थिक  stability could not have come at a more crucial juncture समय . With the Centre in the process of finalising the Union Budget, Dr. Patel has stressed जोर देना  the need to ensure that it does not stray भटका हुआ from the path of fiscal consolidation समेकन , at a time when the external environment is already adverse and likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable निकट future. That the clamour कोलाहल for a sizable fiscal stimulus प्रोत्साहन is likely to grow louder as budget day nears is a certainty, given the signs that an incipient ठनना demand slowdown may have been exacerbated विकट by the cash crunch caused by the withdrawal of high-value banknotes. Within the government too, the temptation to loosen the purse strings तार to assuage adverse reaction to the demonetisation decision is likely to be high. It is in this context that the RBI chief’s reminder to the Centre that “borrowing even more and pre-empting resources from future generations” cannot be a short cut to achieving durable टिकाऊ long-term “higher growth” is significant. With the general government deficit among the highest in the G-20 economies, Dr. Patel reiterated बात को दोहराना what several of his predecessors including Y.V. Reddy have harped आवाज  उठाना on: high levels of government borrowing tend देते है to crowd out private investment and paper over the urgent need for more abiding  स्थाई reforms.
Specifically, the RBI chief has suggested that government expenditure be ideally reoriented नई दिशा में ले जाना  towards creating more public infrastructure such as expanded railway networks and urban mass transit परिवर्तन systems that would help boost productivity even as it leads to reductions in the oil import bill and provides the collateral benefit of improved air quality. And in what could be seen as an expression of assertion अभिकथन of the RBI’s independence of thought, Dr. Patel spoke of the risks that policy interventions हस्तक्षेपों in the form of government guarantees and interest rate subventions आर्थिक सहायता pose. While not directly alluding संकेत करना to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcements last month, which included a doubling in credit guarantees for micro, small and medium enterprises, the RBI chief said that “large credit guarantees also impede बाधा  डालना optimal allocation of financial resources and increase moral hazard संकट .” With such guarantees only adding to the government’s liabilities and raising the risk premium on its borrowing, the better solution, he suggested, would be to resolve constraints such as transaction costs related to clearances and the taxation bureaucracy. As Dr. Patel said, “it is easy and quick to fritter टिकिया away gains regarding macroeconomic stability”. But, as he added, it would be “hard and slow to regain them”.

VOCABULARY 

1. Emphasis                                     जोर
2. Macroeconomic                           व्यापक आर्थिक
3. Juncture                                       समय 
4. Stressed                                       जोर देना
5. Stray                                            भटका हुआ
6. Consolidation                              समेकन
7. Foreseeable                                 निकट
8. Clamour                                      कोलाहल
9. Stimulus                                      प्रोत्साहन
10. Incipient                                      ठनना
11. Exacerbated                                विकट
12. Strings                                        तार
13. Durable                                       टिकाऊ
14. Reiterated                                   बात को दोहराना
15. Harped                                        आवाज  उठाना
16. Tend                                            देते है
17. Abiding                                       स्थाई
18. Reoriented                                   नई दिशा में ले जाना
19. Transit                                         परिवर्तन
20. Assertion                                     अभिकथन
21. Interventions                               हस्तक्षेपों
22. Subventions                                आर्थिक सहायता
23. Alluding                                      संकेत करना
24. Impede                                        बाधा  डालना
25. Hazard                                        संकट
26. Fritter                                          टिकिया