Hindi English Translation || Editorial || Honour and exception: On the Bharat Ratna and its recipients

Honour and exception: On the Bharat Ratna and its recipients

The choice of past leaders for Bharat Ratnas is in tune with politics of the present

The Bharat Ratna (‘Bharat Ratna’, the highest civilian Award of the country, was instituted in the year 1954. Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for these awards. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour), the highest civilian honour (सम्मान) of the country, has been conferred on 50 people since 1954. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani and the late socialist (समाजवादी) leader, Karpoori Thakur, are the newest recipients (प्राप्तकर्ता). The making of national heroes is equally about the recipients as it is about its function as a stimulant (encouragement, impetus, inducement, stimulus) of a collective consciousness (सामूहिक चेतना). It is often the collective (a group of people with shared/common interests) that needs heroes to hold itself together (to keep it together; regain your composure, get a grip on itself). By placing leaders on a higher pedestal (platform), the group seeks (try, aim, attempt) to reinforce (सुदृढ बनाना) ideals (आदर्श) represented by them. Mr. Advani has been a defining (निर्धारक, सीमांकन) figure of modern Indian history. As he reminisced (याद दिलाना), he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh at the age of 14. His role in the advancement (उन्नति) of the Hindutva ideology has been the biggest by any single leader before Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has been a mentor (परामर्शदाता, सलाहकार) to Mr. Modi, with his campaign (अभियान) for a temple in Ayodhya definitively changing the course (way, direction, path) of Indian politics. The campaign pushed the limits of constitutional order (संवैधानिक आदेश), based on the claim that matters of faith (आस्था) cannot be subject to (conditional on, contingent on, dependent on, depending on, controlled by) litigation (मुकदमेबाजी). As it happens with an extraordinary (very great, huge, massive, enormous, substantial (or) unusual, uncommon, surprising, rare, strange) assertion (statement, declaration, opinion, affirmation, pronouncement; upholding, insistence) of popular (public) sovereignty (supreme power or authority; a self-governing state/country), the Ram Janmabhoomi movement changed the country at several levels; the Supreme Court of India, by 2019, unanimously (without opposition, agreed to (by everyone involved)) ruled in favour of (in support of, to the advantage of, approve of) the temple that was inaugurated by Mr. Modi on January 22.

Thakur was a central figure (an important or distinctive person, personality) in the social justice (the equal access to wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society) politics — a euphemism (an innocuous (inoffensive/harmless) or pleasant word/phrase/expression that is used as an alternative to something offensive & unpleasant; polite term, indirect term, mild alternative, understatement) for the demand for better representation of intermediate castes — of Bihar and the larger Hindi belt (region, area, territory, neighbourhood, locality), who challenged the Congress’s hegemony (leadership, dominance, authority, control, power). He served two terms (period of office; spell, stint, time, duration) as the Chief Minister of Bihar in the 1970s. Social justice politics went through phases of self discovery (it is the process of understanding your true self: your values, your needs and wants, even what food you like and dislike), and scattered (break up, disband, separate, disintegrate) into numerous parties over the years. One strand (element, component, factor, aspect, feature) is closely aligned with the BJP. There are social justice groups that are still opposed to it, but the BJP owes its current strength considerably (substantially, appreciably, significantly) to intermediate castes. That ongoing (current, existing, happening) process is being reinforced by honouring (award, reward, recognize, glorify) Thakur. In 2015, A.B. Vajpayee, the first Prime Minister from the BJP, and Madan Mohan Malaviya, the founder of the Banaras Hindu University, were conferred the Bharat Ratna. In 2019, Pranab Mukherjee, Bhupendra Kumar Hazarika, and Nanaji Deshmukh were recipients. All these selections are in tune with (in agreement with, in accordance with, in line with) the politics of the present — and how the history of the Bharat Ratna has always been. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder M.G. Ramachandran and B.R. Ambedkar were also conferred the award in the hope that their followers would, in turn (consecutively, in sequence, in succession), back (suport, favour, approve, advocate, uphold, champion) the party or alliance ruling at the Centre. Mr. Advani and Thakur represent the two legs of BJP politics, namely Hindu consolidation (strengthening, reinforcement, fortification) and higher representation for intermediate castes in all fields (area of activity; sphere, sector, domain, discipline).

Courtesy: The Hindu

Important Word List With Meaning

1.honour (noun)

Hindi Meaning - सम्मान
English Meaning - accolade, award, medal, reward, laurel, distinction.

2.exception (noun)

Hindi Meaning - अपवाद
English Meaning - anomaly, irregularity, deviation, special case, departure, abnormality, oddity.

3.socialist (noun)

Hindi Meaning - समाजवादी
English Meaning - a person who is following the principles of socialism. Socialism is an economic, social, and political system based on public ownership rather than private ownership of a country’s property, resources and means of production.

4.recipient (noun)

Hindi Meaning - प्राप्तकर्ता
English Meaning - a person who is awarded something; receiver.

5.collective consciousness (noun)

Hindi Meaning - सामूहिक चेतना
English Meaning - a set of beliefs, values, and attitudes shared by most people in society.

6.reinforce (verb)

Hindi Meaning - सुदृढ बनाना
English Meaning - fortify, strengthen, bolster.

7.ideals (noun)

Hindi Meaning - आदर्श
English Meaning - beliefs, principles, ideas, ideology, dogma.

8.defining (adjective)

Hindi Meaning - निर्धारक, सीमांकन
English Meaning - critically important, significant weighty.

9.reminisce (verb)

Hindi Meaning - याद दिलाना
English Meaning - remember, recall, recollect, reflect on, look back on, think back to, hark back to.

10.advancement (noun)

Hindi Meaning - उन्नति
English Meaning - progress, progression, development, improvement, growth.

11.mentor (verb)

Hindi Meaning - परामर्शदाता, सलाहकार
English Meaning - master, guru, advisor, guide.

12.campaign (noun)

Hindi Meaning - अभियान
English Meaning - an organized effort that seeks to influence the decision-making progress within a specific group; movement, drive.

13.constitutional order (noun)

Hindi Meaning - संवैधानिक आदेश
English Meaning - a reasonably stable set of institutions through which a nation’s fundamental decisions are made over a sustained period, and the principles that guide those decisions; put simply, the constitutional order is the combination of institutions and principles.

14.faith (noun)

Hindi Meaning - आस्था
English Meaning - religion, religious belief, belief/ideology.

15.litigation (noun)

Hindi Meaning - मुकदमेबाजी
English Meaning - legal dispute, legal case, court case, legal proceeding, legal action.

16.in tune with (phrase)

English Meaning - in agreement with, in accordance with, in line with.

17.Bharat Ratna (noun)

English Meaning - ‘Bharat Ratna’, the highest civilian Award of the country, was instituted in the year 1954. Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for these awards. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour.

18.confer on (verb)

English Meaning - give to, grant to, award to, bestow on, present to, honour with.

19.stimulant (noun)

English Meaning - encouragement, impetus, inducement, stimulus.

20.collective (adjective)

English Meaning - combined, united/joint, cooperative (by all people as a group).

21.consciousness (noun)

English Meaning - awareness, knowledge, realization, recognition.

22.the collective (noun)

English Meaning - a group of people with shared/common interests.

23.hold itself together (phrase)

English Meaning - to keep it together; regain your composure, get a grip on itself.

24.pedestal (noun)

English Meaning - platform.

25.seek (verb)

English Meaning - try, aim, attempt.

26.figure (noun)

English Meaning - an important or distinctive person, personality.

27.course (noun)

English Meaning - way, direction, path.

28.subject to (adjective)

English Meaning - conditional on, contingent on, dependent on, depending on, controlled by.

29.extraordinary (adjective)

English Meaning - very great, huge, massive, enormous, substantial (or) unusual, uncommon, surprising, rare, strange.

30.assertion (noun)

English Meaning - statement, declaration, opinion, affirmation, pronouncement; upholding, insistence.

31.popular (adjective)

English Meaning - public.

32.sovereignty (noun)

English Meaning - supreme power or authority; a self-governing state/country.

33.popular sovereignty (noun)

English Meaning - a government based on its citizens’ wishes ; the doctrine or principle that sovereign power is vested in the people.

34.unanimously (adverb)

English Meaning - without opposition, agreed to (by everyone involved).

35.in favour of (phrase)

English Meaning - in support of, to the advantage of, approve of.

36.social justice (noun)

English Meaning - the equal access to wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.

37.euphemism (noun)

English Meaning - an innocuous (inoffensive/harmless) or pleasant word/phrase/expression that is used as an alternative to something offensive & unpleasant; polite term, indirect term, mild alternative, understatement.

38.belt (noun)

English Meaning - region, area, territory, neighbourhood, locality.

39.hegemony (noun)

English Meaning - leadership, dominance, authority, control, power.

40.term (noun)

English Meaning - period of office; spell, stint, time, duration.

41.go through (verb)

English Meaning - undergo, experience, be subjected to, live through, endure.

42.self discovery (noun)

English Meaning - it is the process of understanding your true self: your values, your needs and wants, even what food you like and dislike.

43.scatter (verb)

English Meaning - break up, disband, separate, disintegrate.