"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.

It is a common perception that truck drivers are rash individuals, responsible for the deaths of numerous citizens in accidents each year. But few know how much the work conditions of drivers contribute to making them who they are. At an awareness camp for drivers at Chandrapur, Aparna Pallavi finds out more.

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.

A Standard & Poor-controlled firm is appointed to draft Pune's city development plan (CDP) in secrecy. An iron curtain of "don't ask us questions" appears when information about the contract is asked for. And then, the plan itself is botched up, violating the 74th Constitutional Amendment. Sheela Barse investigates.

A two-wheeler loan bonanza is overrunning crop-loan concerns in crisis-torn Vidarbha, where two to three farmers have been committing suicide daily. In a land where farmers find it difficult to get institutional loans for their crops, it seems getting loans for bikes are not. 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.

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.

Biogas plants are not new, but their size, relative unwieldyness and reliance on large quantities of cattle dung have held back their potential attractiveness for the domestic cooking sector. That may change soon, thanks to the ingenuity of Dr Anand Karve. Vinita Deshmukh reports about Karve's new award-winning compact plant.

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.

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.

A Marathi booklet published by the Pune-based National Centre for Advocacy Studies reveals a number of lesser known facts about the latest controversy in Indian development - Special Economic Zones. From land-use patterns to crony land acquisition to the stake of real estate developers in Maharashtra, Aparna Pallavi sums it up.

Using a deviously devised method, Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is claiming that 75 per cent of Vidarbha farmer suicides are not due to indebtedness at all. Meanwhile, the toll has crossed 250 this year and is rising. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

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.

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.

The Maharashtra government claims that a huge transformation is taking place in Vidarbha; the milk collection has risen 37 per cent. Distressed farmers, who were given the 'princely' cows as relief, feel otherwise. Jaideep Hardikar does a reality check.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Shreekrishna Kalamb's life and musings as a poet-farmer symbolise the agrarian crisis that is wrecking havoc in the Vidarbha countryside. Kalamb ended his life last month, and his grieving daughter now hopes to publish the collection. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's audit of relief packages for Vidarbha's farmers finds that they were tardy in implementation, mindless in conceptualisation and "inconsistent with local needs." The state government has skirted debate. Jaideep Hardikar on the indictment.

A group of carefree and well-off youngsters run into the crisis-stricken region of Vidarbha. They witness the stark reality of farmers who see hope only in death. Exploring this is Summer 2007, a feature film scheduled for release on 13 June.

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.

Shivangaon, a village near Nagpur produces a staggering Rs.25-29 crores worth of milk each year. Government-led land acquisition here for a new cargo hub is hurting the local economy, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

Maharashtra's Vilasrao Deshmukh-government is asking the private sector not to go about acquiring land for projects if the farmers are opposed. Shivangaon is the hypocritical face of the state government itself. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Land rate has soared to staggering Rs.1-5 crores per acre on the outskirts of Nagpur, driven by the hype created by the proposed Multi-Modal International Hub and Airport at Nagpur project and the adjoining Special Economic Zone. Jaideep Hardikar has more.

As winter chill sets in, Vidarbha farmers are beginning to feel the heat of massive losses, besotted as they are by worries over the hungry months ahead. “It’s the worst crop year I’ve ever seen,” notes farmers’ leader Vijay Jawandhia. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

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.

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.

Proposals for mining in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve are pending at New Delhi for environmental clearance. Conservationists have warned against proceeding, while the state's politicians are for the mining. Jaideep Hardikar digs deeper.

In Pune, bureaucratic meddling and lack of vision are threatening a simple, cost-effective eco-technology which treats heavily polluted water and turns messed-up water bodies into clean ones, reports Surekha Sule.

Reuters Market Light, a professional content service, has been changing the way Vidarbha farmers make decisions on sowing, selling farm produce, and other important matters and increase their profits. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

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.

Integrated river management is a serious business, and without proper attention can lead to politically difficult situations even within a single state, as seen in Maharashtra this year. Parineeta Dandekar reports.

Once impoverished and drought-prone, Hiware Bazar in Maharashtra is a shining example of how a visionary leader can use good governance to make degraded areas resource-rich and transform the future of its people through empowerment and inspiration. Ramesh Menon reports.

The Zero Garbage pilot project in Pune's Katraj ward illustrates the critical elements of a successful and sustainable waste management initiative in the Indian context. Ayrel Clark-Proffitt, Saroj Badgujar, Sunil Agarwal explain how.

A tragic accident at the Chinchave Minor Irrigation Project in Maharashtra brings into focus long-simmering questions over the quality of minor irrigation works as well as the nexus between engineers and contractors. Parineeta Dandekar takes a look.

The plan to erect 12 dams in order to meet the water requirements of cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region is not only objectionable from an environmental perspective, but also undermines the priorities laid out by the 12th Five Year Plan. Shripad Dharmadhikary reports.

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.

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.

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.

If electrification drives remain focused only on village electrification, connections and lighting, 'Gaaon Ka Vikaas Garv Ke Saath' will remain just rhetoric. Anjali Sharma, Ann Josey, and Sreekumar N report.

Rather than rouse themselves to respond when floods strike, state governments seize the opportunity to play financial games with the Centre, says Dinesh Mishra.

People from several villages in Bihar are opposing the construction of a pair of embankments on the Bagmati river and have stopped work on one of them. Less visible behind their cries is a state administration that seems to be set on continuing a history of trapping villages in flood waters, reports Dinesh Mishra.

Since 1963, there have been repeated breaches in the Kosi's embankments, causing tremendous loss and tragedy. Yet, Bihar's governments have made little headway and argue each year as if the problems were new, says Dinesh Kumar Mishra.

e-Governance initiatives are paying off in states considered as difficult as Bihar, bringing to commoners easier access to public services. Some have been empowered by it to stop their exploitation. Ramesh Menon reports.

कोरोना वायरस (Coronavirus) का अभी तक कोई इलाज नहीं मिल सका है ऐसे में बेहतर है कि इन प्रभावशाली तरीकों को अपना कर आप कोरोना वायरस के संक्रमण से बच सकते हैं...

अभी तक कोरोना वायरस (Coronavirus ) का कोई ऐसा इलाज नहीं खोजा जा सका है जो 100 फीसदी कारगर हो...

स्वास्थ्य मंत्रालय (Ministry Of Health) के अनुसार, कोरोना वायरस (CoronaVirus) से होम क्वॉरेंटाइन के जरिए ही आप खुद को और अपनी फैमिली को संक्रमण से बचा सकते हैं.