With government health machinery not being of help, distress-ridden peasantry in Vidarbha unable afford private health care are now falling victim to the Chikungunya viral fever. This is bad news for agriculture, with crops already devastated by floods and heavy rains recently, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

In India, paid sex fuels the spread of HIV, its skewed power equation making it impossible for women to negotiate their own safety. Women in sex work in Mumbai now have an additional means to protect themselves – the female condom. Sumita Thapar and Akhila Sivadas report.

In response to the mass farmer suicides in Vidarbha, the state government is organising spiritual and counselling sessions, even as there are no signs that the economic roots of the crisis are being tackled. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

If the government thought Vidarbha's social bonds are crumbling due to the agrarian crisis, the region's best kept cultural secret -- Jhadipatti Rangbhoomi, a five-month-long theatre festival -- suggests that not all is wrong with the region. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Both the Maharashtra Chief Minister's and the Prime Minister's relief packages for Vidarbha included for distribution of thousands of cows to the region's beleagured farmers. Jaideep Hardikar finds out that the measure has hurt, not helped.

The idea of world class highways in India, runway smooth, takes some getting used to. There is the Golden Quadrilateral from Delhi to Mumbai, and then there are the 70 kms of rubble between Disa in Gujarat and Sanchor in Rajasthan. Dilip D'Souza drives into the New Year weekend.

While the idea of Bus Rapid Transit has merit, its implementation in Pune has created a poor first impression. Inadequate planning, lack of enforcement of dedicated lanes for buses, and haste in rolling out the project have all been criticised, and experts find much room for improvement. Vinita Deshmukh reports.

Savita, Sunita and Pratibha are three women from different contexts, background and age groups, yet engulfed by the continuing tragedy that plays out in Maharashtra. The number of widows is growing at a frightening speed in the cotton country. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

"This is the first year I sowed wheat on an acre of land because of availability of water in the bund along my farm," informs a three-acre farmer Vasanta Kolhe in Hatgaon village, Yavatmal district, Maharashtra. His income will see a little improvement this year, thanks to a bund that students built. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

A systematic, participatory effort to map and understand the need for sanitation in Sangli's slums has helped Shelter Associates bring about a change in the mindset of civic officials and residents alike. Its director, Pratima Joshi believes this is a model that can be replicated in many other cities. Rasika Dhavse reports.

As the fresh sowing season starts, beleaguered cotton farmers, already steeped in debt, are being forced to opt for the more-expensive Bt (genetically modified) cotton. Inputs dealers in Vidarbha say that there is hardly any non-Bt hybrid variety available in the market this year. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

A audit of the Maharashtra government's post-flood disaster relief expenditure of the last two years has thrown up plenty of instances of misuse of funds. The audit has also gone into the causes of floods turning out to be disasters. Himanshu Upadhyaya has more.

Prakash Kardaley's personal integrity and unflinching courage to uncover the wrongs in society were an inspiration to his colleagues. Equally, the RTI law for him was a weapon; he insisted that ordinary citizens were the warriors who had to wield it. Rasika Dhavse pays tribute to the senior journalist who passed away on 15 July.

A self-styled Remaking of Mumbai Federation (ROMF) has spun out a Rs.60,000 crore plan for redeveloping the city, which includes housing the urban poor in skyscrapers. Experiences show that this does not work for the poor, notwithstanding redevelopment's own merits. Darryl D'Monte scrunitises ROMF's proposal.

Are the pressures which make male farmers commit suicide the same for women farmers as well? Socially, legally, with respect to property rights, and given their family positions, women are placed in situations strikingly different from those of men. Aparna Pallavi reports.

Rising health costs are proving disastrous for Vidarbha's farmers already under severe distress. Debt due to spiraling medical expenditures is worse than the illness itself for many, and the state government's health infrastructure is not helping, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

In September, the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation invited expressions of interest from private companies to build the canals for the Nira Deoghar dam on a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis. Everything about the process so far indicates the decision is not a well-thought out one, notes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

Since 1994, the Socio Economic Development Trust has succeeded in drawing some 11,000 dropouts in 220 villages of Maharashtra back to school through unique village-level children's organisations called Bal Panchayats. Aparna Pallavi reports.

A village in rural Chandrapur, Maharashtra, plays match-maker for love-lorn couples marrying out of their castes, at 40 marriages and counting. Jaideep Hardikar finds out that behind the positive force of the village are a group of committed people.

For a miniscule community of East-Bengali origin living in in Maharashtra, it has been a long struggle for the right to learn in their mother tongue. The community has won some victories recently, and much more remains to be done. Aparna Pallavi reports.

In India's business capital, the NGO Sanmitra is helping HIV positive women re-enter the mainstream workforce, thereby ensuring them a life of independence and dignity. Sumita Thapar has more.

The Mumbai Port Trust land, three times the size of the mills, could provide vital space for housing and much-needed lung space. But the absence of proper planning and prioritisation does not portend well, writes Darryl D'Monte.

Maharashtra's RTI activists recently attended and recorded hearings at the state's Information Commission and identified why pendency of disposals is building up: Information Commissioners were not hearing cases for not more than two hours per day. Shailesh Gandhi has more.

An appeal in the environment appellate authority that ought to have been a clear case of evidence and cross evidence has instead thrown up something new - a case of a project being upheld despite the objections to it being true. Kanchi Kohli reports.

The ruling son-of-the-soil party in the city council is putting the finishing touches to a plan to erect a huge Ferris wheel-like structure at Land's End. Whether any real Mumbaikars want this, or can afford it, is very doubtful, says Darryl D'Monte.

A recent ruling by the Bombay High Court on a case of sexual harassment against a private sector company offers encouragement for women are afraid to talk about the problem. Kalpana Sharma has more.

Shattered by a complete failure of crop this year, and looming debt, the three-acre farmer in Yavatmal, Mahrashtra, followed what tens of other farmers have done in Vidarbha in the past. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Across India, cotton growers make up the largest group of the over 180,000 farmers who committed suicide between 1997 and 2007. There's nothing like an election to spur policy change, though, notes P Sainath.

Whether the Bandra-Worli sealink will reduce the travel time across the city remains to be seen. But it isn't doing anything to dampen the growing dependence of our cities on private transport, writes Darryl D'Monte.

The Delhi High Court rules that a proposed thermal power plant cannot come up unless its likely impact on the growth on alphonso mangoes is studied first. Kanchi Kohli reports.

The Assembly elections saw the culture of 'coverage packages' explode across Maharashtra. In many cases, a candidate just had to pay for almost any coverage at all. P Sainath reports.

The huge mismatch between the Chief Minister's stated accounts and the dozens of full pages of 'news' will surely re-stoke the debate over what has now come to be called 'paid news,' writes P Sainath.

The Acorn Foundation India Trust aims to organise ragpickers and train them in scientific methods of waste handling, segregation and recycling, bringing a measure of respect to their work. Freny Manecksha reports.

There has been substantial resistance to the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Park being set up in Konkan region of Maharashtra, in Ratnagiri district. The political consensus for nuclear power has once against brushed aside legitimate local concerns, writes Surekha Sule.

In a city of vast homelessness, can economic growth in the services sector alone lift millions out of poverty? Mumbai's new vision of the future pitches for reclamation and densification, but not jobs and livelihoods. Darryl D'Monte reports.

The fact that the state's most drought-prone regions have continued to devote precious resources for highly water-intensive sugarcane cultivation and sugar production indicates that there is more to the region's water crisis than climatic conditions alone. Parineeta Dandekar analyses.

A dam that was sanctioned upon its claims of being able to irrigate 30,000 hectares in a semi-arid area of Maharashtra does not even have canals 18 years after initiation, but spawns industrial development! Findings by Parineeta Dandekar typify the issues of many large dams in the state.

As studies continue to highlight the potential health hazards posed by cell phones, Mumbai citizens are seen demanding stricter regulation and removal of cell phone towers from sensitive areas, but authorities respond with half-baked measures. Darryl D'Monte reports.

Thousands of landless villagers in Maharashtra's Marathwada region are forced to take up sugarcane harvesting for lack of better livelihood alternatives. Shirish Khare visits the region and uncovers the rampant exploitation and hardships for workers that these contracts entail.

While state atrocities against Pardhi communities show few signs of abatement, a small school in Mahadev Basti in Usmanabad, Maharashtra brings a ray of hope. Shirish Khare reports.

While formal education on climate change is largely structured around doctrines and laws targeted at mature minds, some have realised the importance of building awareness and inspiring action among the younger brigade.Angelica Pereira reports from Mumbai.

Even before the first line of the much-anticipated Mumbai Metro becomes functional, a number of issues have cropped up, most notably one over the pricing of tickets. Darryl D’Monte tracks the arguments, with comparisons to metro rail elsewhere.

The report of the Kelkar Committee on balanced development in Maharashtra has important recommendations. But will it all come to nought because of its failure to avoid some conventional pitfalls? Shripad Dharmadhikary explores.

The Mumbai municipal authorities have delivered a draft 20-year development plan for the city, but implementation of many of the proposals therein could well deliver the final blow to a city already gasping for breath, says Darryl D’Monte.

Fishing villages in Mumbai are probably more threatened than those in other cities, due to the dizzy densification of the country’s commercial capital, writes Darryl D’Monte.

Mumbai’s port land should be redeveloped to benefit, among others, the dock workers and slum dwellers, says a recently released report by city based NGOs Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) and Hamara Shehar Vikas Niyojan Abhiyaan. Darryl D’Monte analyses the report.

For seven years women and children of the rural districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been deprived of essential health services so that the polio eradication campaign could go on. On World Health Day, Abhijit Das points out that this need not be.

The concrete road is a symbol of some development in this northern Bihar town, but it sits oddly with its surrounding landscape. The lack of jobs, the bane of many small towns, has affected Madhubani too, writes Kalpana Sharma.

The periodic floods in the Kosi basin and embankment breaches have landed the people of north Bihar in a perpetual mess. In assembly sessions, politicians discuss flood relief but seldom the cause behind the disasters, reports Surekha Sule.

A public hearing on NREGA in a remote village in Bihar created a confrontation between a leader accused of corruption and the workers who exposed him. Rajesh Veeraraghavan was there and he recorded this story.