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Précis Writing
In this busy world where people are overburdened with a good pressure of work, the art of Precis writing can stand in good stead to express our views in brief.
Précis writing means just seizing the essential points of a story and putting them together in clear and readable shape.
– GUY N. POCOCK
Précis is to be written in 1/3 words of the original passage or paragraph in your own words. You are suggested that you should pour the author’s thought not yours in the précis without any unnecessary trimmings.
PRECIS WRITING MOCK TEST 1
Global pandemic demands game-changing actions by all nations in order to halt its global spread, provide relief in terms of medical supplies and rebuild shattered lives. The global community has the responsibility to rise to the occasion. Any global cataclysm affects poor countries more than the rich ones as the former do not have the resources to meet the unexpected economic challenge. While the developed countries and their groups provide economic packages to themselves and their partners, developing countries stare into the distance with hope of handouts from the international financial institutions or some generous rich allies.
One way of dealing with the emergency in an emergency mode is to consider lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations and individual countries on developing countries. Many international sanctions imposed on the basis of political and economic decisions and taken as a part of diplomatic efforts by countries, multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations exist around the world. These were meant either to ‘protect national security interests, or to protect international law, and defend against threats to international peace and security. These measures include the temporary imposition on a target of economic, trade, diplomatic, cultural or other restrictions’ and can be lifted only through a long process of ascertaining whether their objectives were met.
The UN Security Council has a ‘mandate by the international community to apply sanctions that are binding on all UN member states. They serve as the international community’s most powerful peaceful meant to prevent threats to international peace and security or to settle them’. Peace enforcement is possible if the sanctions fail, but that is only in the rarest of rare cases. The sanctions often lie dormant for technical reason even if their original intent and purpose have lost their relevance. The victims of these sanctions suffer in silence or engage in negotiations to get relief.
Apart from UN sanctions, there are ‘unilateral sanctions that are imposed by individual countries in furtherance of their strategic objectives. Typically intended as strong economic coercion, measures applied under unilateral sanctions can range between coercive diplomatic efforts, economic warfare, or a threat of war’. These take the form of economic, diplomatic, military and sport sanctions.
The unilateral sanctions are naturally not mandatory to any other state, but the United States has often stipulated, like in the case of Iran, that those countries which do not apply sanctions to Iran would be debarred from doing business with the U.S., a Hobson’s choice in many cases.
After the initial invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, the UN ‘placed an embargo on the nation in an attempt to prevent an armed conflict. A naval and air blockade was added. The purpose of the initial sanctions was to coerce Iraq into following international law, which included the recognized sovereignty of Kuwait’. But even after the liberation of Kuwait, a series of sanctions were created to weaken the country. A UN plan to purchase food and medicines by selling Iraqi oil to the world became one of the most serious scandals to hit the UN and its Secretary General. U.S. sanctions against Iran over the years broke the back of the country and forced it to reach an agreement to limit its nuclear activities. The U.S.’s withdrawal from the Iran deal has now resulted in Iran facing crippling sanctions. Perhaps, the impact of COVID-19 was severe in Iran on account of the sanctions and the resultant economic crisis in the country. There are many more cases of sanctions against many countries still in existence.
The countries where sanctions have been imposed will be much relieved if these sanctions are lifted. The countries which have imposed these sanctions will not have to make any financial outlay to assist these countries at time of a humanitarian emergency as Winston Churchill said, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’
Make a precis of the above passage in 1/3 of it. Also give a suitable title.
