Meaning: The highest point; the top; the highest level or degree that can be attained; a conference or meeting of high-level leaders, usually called to shape a programme of action. Summited, summiting, summits is its verb form Etymology: Middle English somet, from Old French sommette, diminutive of som, top, from Latin summum Current significance: This is turning out to be the summer of summits. Here are two that made headlines this week
SUMMIT OF HOPE
With the world facing the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, there was much hype and hoopla about the G 20 summit in London on April 2. Some called it the summit that would save the world, which may seem an overdone claim for a grouping of finance ministers and central bank governors. But US president Barack Obama attended and the leaders agreed a trillion-dollar stimulus for the world economy. Sections of the world's press were suffused by hope. Le Figaro lyrically said it was "The symphony of a new world”. French business paper Les Echos expressed relief the leaders had put aside divisions and egos to create a new powerful grouping, commenting "If it's not exactly a world government ... it's much more than a summit”.
SUMMIT OF SHAME
For India the week was the very summit of shame with the CBI giving Congress leader Jagdish Tytler a clean chit in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The case against Tytler, Congress candidate for the north-east Delhi parliamentary constituency, relates to a mob arson attack on a gurdwara on November 1, 1984 after Indira Gandhi's assassination. The all-clear for Tytler is seen to be the low point for the rule of law. And that's when it had started to seem things would be different with Gujarat's Maya Kodnani becoming the first government minister anywhere in the country to be arrested in connection with communal violence. Tytler, however, seems to underline Kodnani's unique status – she is more the exception than the rule.
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