Today Editorial...

                                Only about terrorism?

Over a period of 48 hours, India hosted leaders of the five-nation BRICS as well as the seven-nation BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), which together represent two-thirds of humanity and more than a quarter of the world’s growth. While BIMSTEC has geographical moorings(घाट ), BRICS is a unique organisation of countries that came together in 2006 not because of geography, history or wealth, but because of their promise as key “emerging economies”. While the promise has faded(फीका ), their ability to grab the world’s attention and challenge the “old order” is still unmatched, as Russia, India, China, Brazil and South Africa remain leaders in their respective regions. What they say on financial systems, development initiatives, sharing of resources like water, oil, precious minerals and land, as well as battling(जूझ ) climate change and poverty has a wide-ranging impact. It is, therefore, unfortunate that the outcome of the BRICS summit and the outreach to BIMSTEC countries has been popularly condensed into what they had to say on a single issue: terrorism, with only a few paragraphs out of the 109-para Goa Declaration dominating the discourse. The domestic context is partially responsible. Even before the Uri attack, New Delhi had embarked on a diplomatic mission to “isolate Pakistan” by raising the issue of terrorism emanating(चलाई ) from its soil at international fora — the campaign escalated(तना हुआ ) after the deaths at the Uri Army camp. As a result, India’s interventions at the G-20 summit in China, the ASEAN summits in Laos, the UN General Assembly, the Non-Aligned Movement meet in Venezuela, and elsewhere resounded with outrage(उल्लंघन ) with Pakistan’s continued cross-border adventurism.

Given this success, New Delhi would have done better to bring the spotlight in Goa back to its own declared goals of building economies and bringing prosperity(समृद्धि ) in the region. A united message to the rich world on a more equitable distribution of global resources, deployment of the New Development Bank and climate change was in order. However, in his speech on the outcomes of the BRICS deliberations(विवेचना ), Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to anchor his remarks on concerns about cross-border terrorism that weren’t entirely reflected in the final Goa Declaration. Officials may well explain it away as a lack of consensus(आम सहमति ) in the grouping, suggesting that China influenced the moderation of the eventual text. However, the single-issue focus also reflects a failure on the part of the Centre in forging(बनाना ) a larger, more broad-based narrative to match the scale of the gathering hosted in Goa.

1)Mooring meaning is landing, dock, harbor.

2)Faded meaning is bleached, used, shabby, reduce in strength.

3)Battling meaning is fight, struggle, clamor.

4)Emanating meaning is come forth, give off, emit.

5)Escalated meaning is increase, expand, grow. 

6)Outrage meaning is atrocity, violation, shock, evil.

7)Prosperity meaning is affluence, good fortune, boom, wealth.

8)Deliberation meaning is serious thought, discussion.

9)Consensus meaning is general agreement, accord, consent.

10)Forging meaning is make something, counterfeit, produce.