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RTI finding : Cities subsidising the rich


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.




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Whose suicide is it, anyway?


In Yavatmal district alone, there's been an eight-fold increase in farmers' suicides in just four years. Yet, thanks to a flawed counting process, even that is a huge under-estimate. P Sainath continues his series on the agrarian crisis in Vidharbha.




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The farmer and his festival lights


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.




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Mortgages are out, land grab is in


Farmers weighed down by debt are now falling prey to land grab by an array of predators that includes talatis and school teachers. A "proper" deed of sale is the preferred method. P Sainath continues his series on Vidharbha's crisis.




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Shamrao Khatale breaks his appointment


The National Commission on Farmers team, the public at large, and even sections of the media have signalled the crisis, its causes and its appalling human toll. Failure to intervene in Vidharbha now has no excuses at all. P Sainath continues his series on Vidharbha's crisis.




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Vidarbha distress and the end of innocence


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.




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Another farmer ends life, villagers distraught


"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.




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Gonds nourish aspirations at annual fair


In what is supposed to be an annual religious and cultural gathering, nothing is more mixed up than the speeches. Talks that start with the fine points of Gondi religion, its practice and ritual, inevitably delve into subjects with deeper socio-political resonance. From interior Maharashtra, Aparna Pallavi reports on the annual Kachhargarh fair.




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Suicide in a distant land


In Vidarbha, where over a thousand farmers have taken their own lives in last the four years over unabated distress, Venkanna Ramayya Rayee's suicide has an unusual edge. A farmer from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, his name won't figure as an entry in the suicide ledger in either state. Jaideep Hardikar has more.




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Poison reaches them, government does not


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.




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Much research, but no decisive action


At least sixteen committees and panels – from the National Farmers Commission led by Professor M S Swaminathan to the Planning Commission's fact-finding-mission led by bureaucrat Adarsh Misra – came this year to Vidarbha, apparently peeved by and concerned over the suicide crisis. Nothing has come of all this yet, notes Jaideep Hardikar.




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Long distance call


We visited Barshi-Takli because we heard about a farmer who had killed himself there, and then we found out about another farmer suicide there. We made futile little consoling cluck-clucks with bewildered widow, then a weeping mother. Dilip D'Souza visited grief-stricken families in Vidarbha.




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Making motorists pay


In London, Singapore and Shanghai, high one-time car taxes and congestion fees have been used to regulate traffic load. In Mumbai though, despite the congestion and pollution caused by private motorised transport, road taxes and parking fees remain very low. Darryl D'Monte reports.




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Rise of the moneylender


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.




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A withering crisis


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.




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The kiss of Chikungunya


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.




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'Yours or mine, either is fine'


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.




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Sermons for the distressed souls


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.




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RG/PG - new twist to land grabs


Recreation and play grounds in the nation's commercial capital may soon be handed over to 'caretakers' with liberal concessions for builders and developers. Meanwhile, bona fide caretakers of public spaces, who've been doing the corporation's job for it for years, find new hurdles. Darryl D'Monte reports.




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Mumbaikers mobilise for civic polls


Citizens' Roundtable, a civil society group in the city, is raising the participation of residents in the electoral process to a new plane. Its members, many of them professionals and former insiders to urban governance, are rating the candidates and also querying them on their plans for governance and expenditure. Darryl D'Monte reports.




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The princely cow and the crisis


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.




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Privatisation turns murkier in K East ward


A pilot privatisation effort in Mumbai's K East ward ignores the lessons from other such efforts, both in India and elsewhere. Worse still, proponents of privatisation show little regard for public particiaption, and reject other options at the outset. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.




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Is the remaking of Mumbai sustainable?


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.




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When the one who dies is a woman


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.




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Snakes and Ladders arming children against disasters


Pune-based firm Neeti Solutions has designed a unique version of the popular game Snakes and Ladders, aimed at teaching children about fires and earthquakes and how to cope best in such situations. Rasika Dhavse has more.




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Privatisation in the Krishna basin is recipe for conflict


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.




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Soya cultivation rising in crisis-hit Vidarbha


Vidarbha farmers are shifting to soybean and oilseeds as substitute, harangued by dipping cotton prices, highly volatile markets and withdrawal of government support. Jaideep Hardikar reports on the trend, the risks and the other alternatives for the farmers.




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Know disaster, no disaster


Over 400 children from 36 schools in Pune participated in the two-day event on 'Children - Disasters and Sustainable Futures' on 4-5 January this year. They gathered knowledge about disasters and how to best manage in such situations, ensuring minimum loss of life and property. Rasika Dhavse reports.




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Wilful distortion denies salt pan owners justice


Contrary to its own knowledge, the Salt Departmnt has been contending that the lands that belong to salt manufacturers along the Konkan coast are government lands, and that the claimants are mere lessees with a license to manufacture salt. P Venu reports.




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The key to speeding up languishing RTI appeals


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.




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Nagpur's land party: risky, unregulated


What the developer gives against the money is just a token receipt – no land title or legal holding deed. And you are supposed to be owner of one of the plots! But where is the land located? Jaideep Hardikar has more.




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Water privatisation: Start again


The Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Authority calls a halt to the privatisation of the Nira Deoghar dam, citing contradictions in the laws governing water management. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.




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High-rise fantasies


The deserted areas of Wadala lie cheek by jowl with a Mumbai Port Trust goods terminal. It lacks public transport and other amenities, but the MMRDA is hell-bent on spending Rs.4128 crores to erect a skyscraper here. Darryl D'Monte reports.




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No to noise


The courts and the police have cracked down on intense noise from motorists' honking in Mumbai's traffic, and the city has recently declared a big chunk of its territory off-limits to road noise. Darryl D'Monte reports.




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It is shameful to misguide people


Well-known PR firms, professional designers, and ad agencies served the richer parties and candidates. They made up 'news' items in the standard fonts and sizes of the desired newspapers and even 'customised' the items to make them seem exclusive in different publications. P Sainath reports.




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Nuking dissent over Jaitapur


NPCIL and the political establishment are burying their heads in the sand over the controversial nuclear plants on the Konkan coast, which will affect the lives of people in the entire region. Darryl D'Monte reports.




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Who is illegal?


Residents in a Golibar slum find that they have very little recourse to the law to defend themselves from being forcibly displaced. The real violator is the builder, they say. Freny Manecksha reports.




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Who will benefit from the ‘Manhattanisation’ of Mumbai?


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.




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Why Fadnavis mustn't be soft on motorists


Sachin Tendulkar’s letter to the Maharashtra CM Fadnavis, urging him to reduce toll posts in the state, may just encourage the state further to execute its plan of exempting private cars and SUVs from such charges. Darryl D’Monte argues why that is entirely unjustifiable.




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The catch regarding Mumbai’s fishing villages


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.




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If this isn't hell, what is?


When Neelam Devi and her children stepped into their courtyard, the sight that greeted them was a painful reminder of the Kosi river calamity that had forced them to leave in the first place. Manisha Prakash reports.




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A new twist to social audits


The district administration in Bihar's Araria district collaborates with a local people's organisation to conduct a social audit of the national employment guarantee scheme. Ashish Ranjan and Purushottam Kumar report.




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Snapshots of a poisoned future


It has been exactly a month since 23 tender lives were lost as children from a school in Gandaman village of Bihar died due to poisoning of the mid-day meals served at school. Anoo Bhuyan shares poignant shots from the village, capturing the sadness and sombre mood that prevails after the tragedy.




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सेलेना गोमेज हो चुकी हैं Bipolar Disorder का शिकार, जानिए इस बीमारी के लक्षण

सेलेना गोमेज ने एक इंटरव्यू के दौरान खुलासा किया था कि उन्हें बाइपोलर डिसऑर्डर हो गया था. सेलेना के मुताबिक, जब उन्हें बाइपोलर डिसऑर्डर होने की जानकारी मिली थी तो वो डर गई थीं.




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विटारा के जैसे SUV लुक वाली नई Maruti Ignis हुई पेश, पहले से है और बेहतर

कार (maruti ignis facelift) के एक्टिरियर यानी बाहर के लुक की बात करें तो यहां आपको फ्रंट और रियर दोनों में ही नया लुक देखने को मिलेगा




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नई Land Rover Discovery Sport हुई भारत में लॉन्च, जानें फीचर्स और कीमत

लैंड रोवर डिस्कवरी स्पोर्ट (Land Rover Discovery Sport) को उसकी बेमिसाल पावर के लिए जाना जाता है. इसका 2.0-लीटर बीएस-6 कम्प्लाइंट D180 डीजल इंजन 180 हॉर्स पावर की ताकत और 430Nm का टॉर्क जेनरेट करता है




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i10 nios और Triber की टक्कर में लॉन्च हुई Maruti Ignis फेसलिफ्ट, कीमत 5 से कम

इस प्राइस पर इग्निस (ignis) अपने राइवल्स को कड़ी टक्कर देगी. मार्केट में इग्निस का मुकाबला हुंडई ग्रेंड आई10 निओस (Hyundai Grand i10 Nios) और रेनॉ ट्राइबर (Renault Triber) जैसी हैचबैक गाड़ियों से होगा




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कोरोना का असर, Isuzu ने भारत में BS-6 व्हीकल्स की लॉन्चिंग आगे बढ़ाई

ईसुजू मोटर्स इंडिया (Isuzu Motors India) ने सोमवार को बताया कि कंपनी ने कोरोना वायरस महामारी (Coronavirus Pandemic) के चलते भारतीय बाजार में लॉन्च होने वाले BS-6 वाहनों की लॉन्चिंग तारीख आगे बढ़ा दिया है.




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Throwback: जब प्रियंका चोपड़ा ने छुपकर 'कार पार्किंग' में निक को किया था Kiss

प्रियंका चोपड़ा (Priyanka Chopra) अक्सर अपने इंस्टाग्राम अकाउंट पर भी निक के साथ 'कोजी' तस्वीरें शेयर करती रहती हैं.




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आज है आपका B'DAY तो लकी हैं आप, अमिताभ बच्चन ने खुद आपको ऐसे किया है WISH

अमिताभ बच्चन (Amitabh Bachchan) सोशल मीडिया पर काफी एक्टिव रहते हैं साथ में वो मजेदार फैक्ट्स के बारे में बात करना भी पसंद करते हैं. हाल ही में उन्होंने अपने इंस्टाग्राम पर एक मजेदार पोस्ट किया है.