Vocabulary Builder — Essay & Answer Writing
Exigency
An urgent need or demand; a pressing situation that requires immediate action. Often used in the plural (exigencies) to describe the pressing requirements or constraints imposed by a particular situation.
Latin exigentia, from exigere (to demand, drive out) — related to 'exigent' (requiring immediate action)
"The Centre justified the continued deployment of 50,000 paramilitary forces in Manipur by citing the exigencies of maintaining law and order in a state where ethnic violence had displaced nearly 60,000 civilians and destroyed hundreds of villages."
Formal and precise vocabulary for GS2 and GS3 Mains answers involving policy justification, emergency governance, and urgent reform. Use in the plural form 'exigencies' when describing the constraints a government faces: 'the fiscal exigencies of a pandemic response', 'the security exigencies of a border standoff', 'the electoral exigencies that often override long-term policy'. Particularly useful in answers where you need to acknowledge why a less-than-ideal policy choice was made — showing examiner you understand real-world governance constraints.
