Poll Results
Total Seats : 402
BSP : 206
This is the final tally of the recent elections in UP.
Confounding all experts and trashing all exit poll results, one party won with
a majority. The electorate once again proved that it can act on its own
setting aside all past indicators. Just a few days earlier a newspapers first
page carried the headline "Mixed signals from UP exit polls.", which just
shows how difficult it is to read the electorate’s mind.
Possibly, tired of the never-ending conflicts between the
constituents of coalition governments, the electorate appears to have decided
to give one party a chance at governing. The month’s to come will show whether
the majority party provides reasonable governance or gets bogged down in petty
revenge politics.
Environmental Issues
These days newspapers are filled with news about the
environment: Stark warnings about the effects of global warming on the one
hand; somewhere concern for declining animal populations; birds falling out
of the sky due to excessive heat; and many more.
Here is a sample of news headlines on the subject:
-
'Calamity Countdown: The Gangotri glacier is
receding by as much as 25 metres a year.'
-
'Act now or face the heat: World has just
eight years to tackle global warming, warns UN report.'
-
‘Tiger, tiger, burning out: Lord of jungle
vanishes from wide
swathes, remains islanded in sanctuaries.’
-
‘251 square km of moderately dense forest lost in
28 tiger reserves between 1997-2002.’
And this is news pertaining only to India!
