News of the Day : Fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls ends amid violence

The fifth phase of the Lok Sabha election across 51 constituencies in seven States on Monday witnessed several incidents of violence in West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir. The overall tentative turnout stood at 63.26% as against 61.75% in 2014.

More than 81% of the polling stations in this phase were located in rural areas. With the conclusion of this round, 78% of the Lok Sabha election is now over.

Dismal show in J&K

In Anantnag constituency of Jammu & Kashmir, where the polls were conducted in three phases, the turnout was a dismal 8.76%, while it was 28.54% in 2014. However, 71.1% voter participation was registered in Ladakh, close to last time’s figure.

A grenade exploded in Anantnag, but no one was injured. “A grenade was hurled at another place too, but it did not explode,” said an EC official.

Monday’s highest of 74.42% turnout was reported from seven constituencies in West Bengal, which is lower than the corresponding 81.37% recorded in 2014.

3 candidates attacked

Three candidates, two from BJP and one from Trinamool Congress were attacked in the State. The BJP candidate from North 24 Parganas’s Barrackpore seat, Arjun Singh, suffered after being allegedly attacked by Trinamool supporters. Mr. Singh, who alleged electoral malpractices at the behest of the Trinamool was seen arguing with locals and chasing supporters of the rival parties at a number of polling booths. Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal Arif Aftab said an FIR has been registered against Mr. Singh on a specific complaint.

About half-a-dozen incidents of violence, in which some people were injured, have been brought to the notice of the Election Commission.

The car of BJP candidate from Hooghly Locket Chatterjee was allegedly damaged by Trinamool workers near a polling booth in Dhanekhali.

The BJP candidate who had come to the booth after receiving reports of rigging by the ruling party workers, also faced demonstration from TMC supporters.

Clashes between BJP and Trinamool cadres were reported from some places, while in Bangaon, crude bombs were hurled, injuring a few people. In Titagarh, some miscreants assaulted CPI(M) supporters at their poll camp.

A turnout of 68.11% was registered in Madhya Pradesh, compared to just 57.86% in 2014.

In Jharkhand, where the naxals burnt down a vehicle in the outskirts of Ranchi, there was an increase from 63.85% the last time to a tentative 65.12%.

Rajasthan too recorded 63.75% polling, almost 2% more than the 2014 turnout. Union Ministers Rajyawardhan Rathore and Arjun Ram Meghwal were in the fray in the State.

In the 14 constituencies of Utttar Pradesh, the figure was 57.93% as against 55.69% the last time.

Among the prominent politicians contesting in the State were Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Bihar recorded a tentative turnout of 57.86% as against 55.69% in 2014.

1 million species at risk of extinction: UN

Relentless pursuit of economic growth, twinned with the impact of climate change, has put an ”unprecedented” one million species at risk of extinction, scientists said on Monday in a landmark report on the damage done by modern civilisation to the natural world.

Only a wide-ranging transformation of the global economic and financial system could pull ecosystems that are vital to the future of human communities worldwide back from the brink of collapse, concluded the report, which was endorsed by 130 countries, including the U.S., Russia and China.

“The essential, interconnected web of life on Earth is getting smaller and increasingly frayed,” said Professor Josef Settele, who co-chaired the study, launched in Paris on Monday by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). “This loss is a direct result of human activity and constitutes a direct threat to human well-being in all regions of the world.”

145 authors, 50 countries

Compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries, the study is a cornerstone of an emerging body of research that suggests the world may need to embrace a new “post-growth” form of economics if it is to avert the existential risks posed by the mutually-reinforcing consequences of pollution, habitat destruction and carbon emissions.

Known as the Global Assessment, the report found that up to one million of Earth’s estimated eight million plant, insect and animal species is at risk of extinction, many within decades.

The authors identified industrial farming and fishing as major drivers with the current rate of species extinction tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the last 10 million years. Climate change caused by burning the coal, oil and gas produced by the fossil fuel industry is exacerbating the losses, the report found. Robert Watson, a British environmental scientist who chairs the IPBES, said it would be possible to start conserving, restoring and using nature sustainably only if societies were prepared to confront “vested interests” committed to preserving the status quo.

“The report also tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global,” Mr. Watson said in a statement. “By transformative change, we mean a fundamental, system-wide reorganisation across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values.”

The report’s blunt language echoed the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said in October that profound economic and social changes would be needed to curb greenhouse gases quickly enough to avert the most devastating consequences of a warming world.

The findings will also add to pressure for countries to agree bold action to protect wildlife at a major conference on biodiversity due to take place in China towards the end of next year.

3-year review

The Global Assessment contained a litany of estimates made after a three-year review of some 15,000 scientific papers that showed the profound impact of the rise of a globalised industrial society on the planet over the past half century.

Combining wide-ranging disciplines to measure how the loss of the natural world affects human societies, the report identified a range of risks, from the disappearance of insects vital for pollinating food crops, to the destruction of coral reefs that support fish populations that sustain coastal communities, or the loss of medicinal plants. The report found that the average abundance of native species in most major land-based habitats has fallen by at least 20%, mostly since 1900.

The threatened list includes more than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of reef-forming corals, and more than a third of all marine mammals. The picture was less clear for insect species, but a tentative estimate suggests 10% are at risk of extinction. “We have been running from one frontier to another frontier trying to find cheap nature (to exploit) in every corner of the planet,” said Eduardo Brondizio, a professor of anthropology at Indiana University in the United States who co-chaired the Global Assessment. “The key message: business as usual has to end.”

(Source – The Hindu)

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