In the name of good governance, decision-making powers in Karnataka are being given to parastatal organizations and non-elected task forces. Kathyayini Chamaraj asks for a re-look at outsourcing government.

Post October floods in North Karnataka, Dalits find themselves in a greater predicament. A century of struggle for equal rights and worse, fundamental faith in human progress, is at stake, writes Savita Hiremath.

"Trying to measure the success of water harvesting only with increased water level is not fair. The vegetation improves, so does the soil moisture.” Shree Padre reports on an arecanut farming family's success.

It takes more to feed the family amidst destroyed houses and ruined hopes. The flood-hit women in North Karnataka are putting up with more than what their menfolk could ever empathise with. Savita Hiremath has more.

Notwithstanding these hellholes called shelters, the state government has been going gung-ho about its ‘swift action’ to resettle the flood victims in North Karnataka. A visit to one such shed revealed the officials’ heartless rhetoric writes Savita Hiremath.

With two decades of continuous research and wise management, this ex-lecturer in Karnataka's Udupi district has made a barren hillock into a model of rain harvesting. Shrikrishna D reports.

Karnataka's Human Rights Commission's work suffers from many weaknesses - the composition, manner of operations, and the lack of force of its recommendations to the Government. Swagata Raha writes.

In a desperate bid to outdo each other in television rating points, regional news channels are increasingly resorting to celebrity coverage bordering on tabloid journalism that infringes the right to individual privacy. B S Nagaraj comments on the trend.

Karnataka's new chief minister Siddaramaiah is certainly more left-leaning than some of his counterparts in the Congress party at the Centre. Fielding questions on Kannada TV's Suvarna News, he displays a calm demeanour to round off the tough-man image he has cultivated over the years. India Together brings you translated excerpts from the interview.

A retired physician in small-town Manipal in Karnataka sets an example in kitchen gardening and highlights the many benefits it brings apart from the yield itself. Shree Padre brings us his remarkable story.

The Karnataka government’s attempts to reintegrate Naxals into the mainstream through the provision of a surrender and rehabilitation package have met with limited success. Akshatha M reports on the ground realities.

Legal and procedural lapses as well as disregard of critical public submissions are tarnishing the EIA of the proposed Tadadi Port in Karnataka. Kanchi Kohli reports.

As environmental clearance on the proposed Tadri port in Karnataka is awaited, Dina Rasquinha and Aarthi Sridhar discuss how assumed future benefits of the port have been projected in complete disregard of the natural, environmental gifts that the region enjoys.

Lack of clarity over legal requirements, shoddy implementation and selective approvals have made it extremely difficult for poorer communities to build or maintain their houses in coastal zones. Vinod Patgar describes the situation based on his experience in Karnataka.

A South Marathwada village reconstructs itself after the devastating earthquake, with help from Jnana Prabodhini. Sayli Udas reports.

From water-harvesting to science education to agriculture, Vidnyanvahini's all-round efforts create vibrant communities, and inspire others to pursue similar paths.

Geeta Seshu reports on a recent study that recently looked at decreasing funding for women specific schemes.

The government claims to provide equal opportunities for women, but the traditional power structure and corruption usually ensure the opposite. Aparna Pallavi reports from Ramtek, Maharashtra.

As Maharashtra takes steps to ensure domestic workers receive a living wage, Kalpana Sharma notes that this is about more than livelihood, it's about affirming the humanity of all people.

Rasika Dhavse reports about success in self-determination and natural resource conservation at a Maharashtra village.

The recent national consultation at Mumbai on the right to healthcare included the National Human Rights Commission. The pursuit of "Health for all" is very much alive, says Abhay Shukla.

Rasika Dhavse profiles the Pune-based Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).

How much should domestic workers be paid for various kinds of labour? In Pune, workers decided they must have some say in the answer. Rasika Dhavse reports.

The government machinery has a number of explanations for the deaths of numerous tribal children in Maharashtra's Melghat region. But the adivasis themselves do not identify any of these as the cause of their deaths. Instead they point to the systematic destruction of their traditional livelihood in the name of law and development. Aparna Pallavi reports.

It needed the final week of an election campaign to force the most minimal attention, if that, towards the real issues people worry about. P Sainath looks at the balance of interests in pre-election Maharashtra.

A round table gathering of citizens and planners has identified ways to improve the city's transportation services. If successful, this initiative could serve as a model for active participation by residents in solving a problem every metropolitan area faces. Pankaj Sekhsaria reports.

Noted anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare says that enforcing a new central RTI law is not going to be a cakewalk. "The rulers regard themselves as owners, dictators – especially the bureaucrats", says Hazare in this interview. But he warned that a national agitation may leave New Delhi no choice.

Not least because affordable rental housing in Bombay is an urban myth, the jobs we invite our fellow Indians to fill so that we can have all those good things of a booming economy, are filled by people who have little choice but to live in slums. And then we raze those slum homes. Cavalier, says Dilip D'Souza.

Property prices have gone up over the decades, but Mumbai leases land to private interests at rates as low as Rs.7 per sq.m. In the last three years alone, revenue authorities have on average lost close to Rs.48 crores, estimates Shailesh Gandhi.

Why were more than a dozen bills introduced late on the last day of the session, giving legislators no time to even read them? Why was there no debate? Questions are now being asked about how the Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority Bill was passed, reports P Sainath.

The World Bank continues to push its agenda on water privatisation even though its much-heralded examples from recent years turned out to be such dismal failures. The result will destroy countless small farmers and hand over agriculture to the rich and corporations, says P Sainath.

Despite a strongly held belief to the contrary, Maharashtra's farmers have never demanded free power. And the suicides in Vidharbha were certainly not linked to this issue. P Sainath finds that the region is really paying the price of political power.

Sometimes, simply showing up is half the battle won. In caste panchayats in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, women activists are finding that attending them regularly is the best way for women to find justice in these community hearings. Aparna Pallavi reports.

The Ganesh festival is the most important event in Maharashtra. This season, farm distress has hit the utsav badly in Vidharbha. Very few have money to spend. Meanwhile, farmers' suicides there are going up. There has been one almost every 36 hours this year. P Sainath continues his series on the region's crisis.

The Bhagwan Datta mandir in Belkhed, Akola, was built by Dalits when they were still Hindus. It was ostensibly the focus of the fiery violence there earlier this month. The real reasons? Caste, the decline of organised Dalit politics, the crisis in agriculture, and wage conflicts - all played a role, writes P Sainath.

When an unexpectedly high number of people sought work recently under Maharashtra's Employment Guarantee Scheme, a District Collector decided to investigate. Her quest unearthed wide-spread fraud in the implementing agency, but also roused political forces determined to thwart her. Surekha Sule reports.

Ten months after his father ended his life, Madhav toils from 6 am to 8 pm to herd the cattle of a big farmer for a paltry Rs 20 a day. Education? Forget it. In village after Vidarbha village where farmers have committed suicide, children have eventually dropped out of schools to take up the plough and work like beasts of burden, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

"This building is dangerous. It may collapse at any time. Enter at your own risk." So goes a warning sign at the entrance to a building in Mumbai. Buildings that crumble are an old tradition in this city, with at least one cause being the Rent Control Act. Dilip D'Souza says the pernicious law must go.

"In the time of crisis, when no helping hand is coming forward to rescue us, we have to manage ourselves," says Bhagwat Jadhav, a resident of Bondgavhan village in Vidarbha. His neighour, cotton farmer Ramesh Rathod committed suicide recently. "It could be our turn tomorrow," says a worried Jadhav. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Chandrakant Pathak has invented power-generation gadgets tailored especially for rural energy needs. As Pathak's gadgets are gaining popularity in rural areas of Pune district and several neighbouring districts in Maharashtra, state energy development agencies are taking note, reports Aparna Pallavi.

Suicides by consuming poison contribute to over two-thirds of the total autopsies performed at a sub-district hospital in interior Vidarbha, Maharashtra. "Pesticide could be bought from any Krishi Kendra. But for medicine, they've to walk miles before they could get it," says one health official. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Amongst a number of other problems, this village in Sangli district, Maharashtra, was ridden with alcoholism and disease for over two decades. Since 2001, that began to change. Kavthepiran made a turnaround, banned alcoholism, and won a national award for 100 per cent sanitation this year. Vinita Deshmukh reports.

Too many factors coincided to deliver justice speedily in the Sunil More case. But whether this will have a long-term impact on rape cases is debatable. Unless the speed of investigation and the filing of charges becomes the norm, such cases will remain the exception, writes Kalpana Sharma.

With the decision to turn an important commercial road in the city into a walking plaza on weekends, Pune is reaping a healthier urban environment as well as a popular public space. Vinita Deshmukh reports that the early opposition from some quarters has given way, as more people take to the street.

Stirred by a media campaign, a team of youngsters from Pune launched an effort to help villagers avoid the scramble for water at wells. Well-lined tanks and a simple pipeline has reduced the loss of water, and literally brought it to villagers' doorsteps. Vinita Deshmukh reports.

Can the State impose arbitrary and varying standards of vulgarity, indecency and obscenity for different sections of society or classes of people? Flavia Agnes notes that the Mumbai High Court's verdict in the dance bar bans case strikes the right note.

When the Maharashtra state government started punishing moneylenders in response to rising farmer suicides in Vidarbha, hundreds of cotton farmers complained. "Who will give us credit now?" they asked. Third in his series, Jaideep Hardikar records the deep-rooted factors for the dominance of the moneylender in Vidarbha.

"We are confused, whom should we believe in? The finance minister says action will be taken within 48 hours against officials who do not release the credit, and the babus say they have no notification," says sixty-year-old Tatyaji Panghate at Ghonsa in Zari Jamni block of Yavatmal. Jaideep Hardikar reports on more suicides in Vidarbha.

Incessant rainfall in the catchment area of the Sardar Sarovar dam, coupled with less water being allowed to flow into the Narmada main canal led to an unusual overflow in early August, despite upstream dams not recording downstream releases. Himanshu Upadhyaya reports on the devastation in the Narmada valley.

In Maharashtra, robber baron politics exists on a scale many other states cannot dream of. Here, one finds crony capitalism at its worst; two or three parasitical and incestuous lobbies can get anything they want done. There is much the state can do differently, but then it will be not be the Maharashtra of our times, writes P Sainath.