The Hindu Editorial (​Restoring rights) – Mar 21, 2026

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The Hindu Editorial (​​​​Restoring rights) – Mar 21, 2026:

1. restore (verb) – to legally reinstate or return a fundamental entitlement or condition to its rightful state; reinstate, re-establish, bring back.
2. right (noun) – a  legal entitlement guaranteed by the Constitution or law; entitlement, prerogative, privilege, claim.
3. Hamsaanandini Nanduri vs Union Of India case (noun) – a landmark 2026 Supreme Court of India judgment that struck down the three-month age limit for maternity leave for adoptive mothers under the Code on Social Security, establishing that all adoptive mothers are entitled to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave irrespective of the child’s age, thus recognizing maternity protection as a fundamental human right.
4. adoptive (adjective) – nonbiological, acquired by adoption, fostering.
5. Adoptive mother (noun) – a woman who has legally assumed the permanent maternal rights and responsibilities for a child, holding identical legal standing and obligations as a biological parent; legal mother, fostering mother.
6. biological (adjective) – related genetically or by blood rather than through legal adoption; genetic, consanguineous, blood-related.
7. biological mother (noun) – the female parent who conceives and gives birth to a child, sharing a direct genetic relationship; birth mother, genetic mother.
8. tinge (noun) – trace, hint, touch, suggestion.
9. judicial activism (noun) – judicial interventionism, proactive adjudication.
10. activism (noun) – the doctrine or practice of taking direct, vigorous action to achieve a specific social, political, or legal result; advocacy, involvement, campaigning, interventionism.
11. expansively (adverb) – broadly, comprehensively, extensively, widely.
12. interpret (verb) – to systematically elucidate, construe, or determine the underlying constitutional meaning of a law or legal provision; construe, explain, elucidate, decode.
13. the Constitution (of India) (noun) – the supreme and foundational legal framework of India that delineates the structure, powers, and duties of government institutions and enshrines the fundamental rights and directive principles for its citizens.
14. secure (verb) – guarantee, safeguard, ensure, obtain.
15. over the years (phrase) – occurring cumulatively or continuously throughout a prolonged historical period; historically, systematically over time, gradually.
16. encompass (verb) – include, incorporate, embrace, cover.
17. evolving (adjective) – developing, progressing, advancing, transforming.
18. keen (adjective) – sharp, astute, perceptive, penetrating.
19. feminist (adjective) – advocating for the systemic social, political, and economic equality of the sexes, particularly focusing on dismantling patriarchal disadvantages; egalitarian, pro-women, gender-egalitarian.
20. perspective (noun) – viewpoint, standpoint, angle, point of view, outlook.
21. highest court in the land (phrase) – the ultimate judicial authority and apex appellate body within a nation’s legal hierarchy, referring specifically to the Supreme Court of India; apex court.
22. recognise (verb) – to formally and legally acknowledge, validate, certify, admit.
23. maternity leave (noun) – a statutorily mandated period of paid absence from employment granted to mothers to facilitate childbearing, adoption, and early caregiving.
24. maternity (noun) – the condition, legal status, and socially significant period of being a mother, encompassing pregnancy, childbirth, or adoption, along with immediate caregiving duties; motherhood, state of being a mother.
25. human right (noun) – an inherent, inalienable entitlement that inherently belongs to every individual to ensure dignity, equality, and protection against state or structural overreach; fundamental right, civil liberty, basic entitlement.
26. entitle (verb) – authorize, empower, grant (the right).
27. regardless of (phrase) – irrespective of, notwithstanding, unhindered by, ignoring.
28. at the time of (phrase) – during, exactly when, on the occasion of.
29. adoption (noun) – the definitive legal mechanism through which an individual or couple permanently acquires the comprehensive parenting rights, obligations, and relationship with a non-biological child; legal fostering, legal assumption of parenthood.
30. thus (adverb) – therefore, consequently, hence, accordingly.
31. strike down (phrasal verb) – invalidate, quash, annul, nullify.
32. petitioner (noun) – applicant, claimant, appellant, litigant.
33. challenge  (verb) – to formally contest or legally dispute the constitutional validity and structural fairness of a statutory clause; dispute, contest, object to, question.
34. provision (noun) –  clause, stipulation, condition, requirement.
35. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (noun) – it is a central Indian legislation enacted to regulate the employment of women in specific establishments for certain periods before and after childbirth, ensuring the statutory provision of paid maternity leave, wage protection, and related maternal welfare benefits.
36. replace (verb) – supersede, substitute, supplant, override.
37. The Code on Social Security, 2020 (noun) – it is a comprehensive Indian legislative framework that consolidates and amalgamates nine central labor laws to extend universal, standardized social security benefits—such as provident fund, healthcare, and maternity leave—to all workers in the organized, unorganized, and gig sectors.
38. point out (phrasal verb) –  highlight, indicate, underscore, emphasize.
39. observe (verb) – remark, note, state, opine.
40. obligation (noun) – a profound legal, moral, or structural duty and responsibility inherently owed by a parent to ensure a child’s holistic welfare; duty, responsibility, commitment, liability.
41. read (verb) – interpret, construe, decipher, understand.
42. reproductive autonomy (noun) – the fundamental human right and capacity of an individual to make independent, uncoerced choices regarding their own body, family planning, and motherhood; reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, reproductive self-determination.
43. reproductive (adjective) – relating to the biological, legal, or social processes of bearing children and forming a family; procreative, generative, genetic, familial.
44. autonomy (noun) – independence, self-determination, freedom, self-governance.
45. emotional bond (noun) – psychological attachment, affective connection, emotional tie.
46. nurture (verb) – to actively foster, support, and systematically cultivate the emotional, psychological, and physical development of a child; cultivate, foster, care for, rear.
47. presence (noun) – physical availability, involvement, proximity.
48. sustained (adjective) – continuous, prolonged, consistent, unbroken.
49. caregiving (noun) – the active, continuous provision of comprehensive physical, emotional, and structural support necessary for a child’s upbringing; nurturing, care provision, parenting, looking after.
50. constitute (verb) – make up, form, comprise, establish.
51. rather (adverb) – instead, more precisely, on the contrary, alternately.
52. sustain (verb) –  uphold, maintain, preserve, support.
53. extend (verb) – grant, offer, provide.
54. motherhood (noun) – the legally protected and socially vital condition of being a female parent, characterized by inherent caregiving responsibilities and the creation of emotional bonds; maternity, parenthood, maternal state.
55. economic security (noun) – financial stability, economic independence, financial protection.
56. social security (noun) – a comprehensive system of state-sponsored welfare programs strategically designed to provide financial, medical, and structural protection to citizens against socio-economic risks, including maternity and unemployment; social welfare, state protection, public assistance.
57. parenthood (noun) – the encompassing state and legal identity of being a parent, which inherently involves shared caregiving responsibilities rather than isolated duties; parenting, child-rearing, mothering/fathering.
58. solitary (adjective) – single, individual, isolated, lone.
59. confer (verb) – to formally and legally grant, bestow, accord, impart.
60. rearing (noun) – the comprehensive, long-term developmental process of nurturing, educating, and physically bringing up a child; raising, upbringing, parenting, nurturing.
61. child rearing (noun) – raising children, child upbringing, parenting, child care.
62. gender-neutral (adjective) – structurally egalitarian (equitable) and completely devoid of traditional gender biases or role assumptions, applying equally to individuals irrespective of their sex; inclusive, ungendered, non-discriminatory, egalitarian.
63. parenting paradigm (noun) – the general theoretical, legal, and structural model that dictates how the shared responsibilities of raising children are socially conceptualized and legally supported; parenting model, caregiving framework, familial standard.
64. paradigm (noun) –  model, framework, pattern, standard.
65. patriarchal (adjective) – characterizing a socio-cultural or structural system wherein men disproportionately hold power, and traditional, inequitable gender roles are systematically enforced; male-dominated, male-centric, traditionalist, chauvinistic.
66. patriarchal enabling system (noun) – institutionalized patriarchy, male-centric framework, chauvinistic structure, traditionalist system.
67. feminise (verb) – to systematically force an activity, responsibility, or profession to become disproportionately associated with, or exclusively performed by, women; make female-centric, genderize, associate with women.
68. raise (verb) – rear, bring up, nurture, care for.
69. lead to (phrasal verb) – result in, cause, bring about, give rise to, engender.
70. undervalued (adjective) – underappreciated, underrated, minimized, marginalized.
71. inadequately (adverb) – insufficiently, poorly, deficiently, meagerly.
72. compensated (adjective) – structurally provided with appropriate financial remuneration, wages, or equitable economic reward in exchange for critical labor or services; remunerated, paid, reimbursed, rewarded.
73. if it ever is (phrase) – assuming it happens at all, rarely if at all, highly unlikely.
74. Claudia Goldin (proper noun) – Claudia Goldin is an eminent American economic historian and labor economist at Harvard University who won the 2023 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her pioneering, comprehensive research uncovering the historical drivers of women’s labor market outcomes and the structural causes of the gender pay gap.
75. gender pay gap (noun) – gender wage disparity, wage gap, income inequality.
76. set right (phrasal verb) – rectify, correct, resolve, remedy.
77. to a large extent (phrase) – substantially, significantly, primarily, largely.
78. gender imbalance (noun) – the systemic, disproportionate, and inequitable distribution of power, opportunities, roles, or compensation between men and women within a socio-economic framework; gender disparity, gender inequality.
79. imbalance (noun) – disparity, inequality, disproportion, asymmetry.
80. the state (noun) – the government, the administration, the regime, the public authority.
81. progressive (adjective) – demonstrating an active, forward-looking commitment to socio-economic reform, structural equality, and the advancement of modern, egalitarian welfare policies; liberal, reformist, forward-looking, enlightened.
82. implementation (noun) – execution, application, enforcement, realization.

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