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.

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.

There is now a growing body of opinion against soft drinks in particular and fast food in general being marketed to children through the media and directly in schools. A number of private schools in Mumbai have already stopped sales of colas in their canteens. Darryl D'Monte has more.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The scientific establishment remains highly sceptical about organic methods. But Dr Tarak Kate and his colleagues at a Wardha-based NGO have collected data systematically, to negate the charge that this alternative is unscientific and unproven. Darryl D'Monte reports.

At the core of the agriculture crisis in Vidarbha are the disparities between the western and eastern regions that the state's policies have fostered over five decades. Starved of the funds that western region has for long received, it now hardly matters whether Vidarbha gains the status of statehood, notes Jaideep Hardikar.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Maharashtra's sugar cooperatives helped raise hundreds of thousands of farmers out of high-risk choices, and brought a measure of economic security to the sugar belt. But over the years, big farmers have hijacked the original premise of the cooperative movement, and the region's prosperous past is now fading. Gagandeep Kaur reports.

Farmers in Datodi village in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, turned to sugarcane when the Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, called on the debt-ridden cotton farmers of Vidarbha to shift to the sweet cane last year. They are now paying the price, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

More and more land in Vidarbha has come under women's cultivation, but pressures of culture and family economics are still strongly against their title to land itself. But increasingly, women are coming out to assert their rights, reports Aparna Pallavi.

In Vidarbha, where an average one cotton farmer ends his life every six hours, Mangalabai and Kamalabai are mothers who singularly stand out. After the death of their husbands, they learned every thing and are raising their family with unnoticed resilience, reports Jaideep Hardikar.

Mann Deshi Udyogini, formed by a rural women's cooperative bank in association with HSBC Bank, is a business school aims to empower rural women with knowledge of how to run small enterprises. Gagandeep Kaur 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.

Four years, three men, one family. The tragedy unleashed by the agrarian crisis on the family of Deshmukhs in Katyar village of Vidarbha isn’t vanishing. Jaideep Hardikar reports.

Hundreds of farming families are making a beeline to Karanja from surrounding districts in the hope of a better education for their children. Although this has brought financial as well as a other problems, these families feel they have little choice. 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.

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.

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.

The recent Urban Age conference in Mumbai brought much needed focus on the difficulties plaguing cities around the world. Several speakers observed that a democratic deficit is now evident in many of them, and tackling this is key to building a strong future for urban areas. Darryl D'Monte reports.

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.

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.

The challenge of educating street and railway children is more than an education problem - it is a holistic problem of moulding and supporting their entire lives. Aparna Pallavi reports on the efforts of CNI-SSI in Nagpur.

He was a zamindar by birth and a successful lawyer by training. He charmed and transformed generations of youth and propelled them into social and political activism. Baba Amte, who passed away last week, was a rare combination of sensitivity and courage, writes Ravindra R P.

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.

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.

Land acquisition from Vidarbha farmers for irrigation projects is become a case of cure worse than the disease. The new projects are being commissioned over the prime minister's relief package. Jaideep Hardikar digs deeper.

Fertilizer shortages have sparked unrest across large swathes of rural Maharashtra and other States as well. In Washim, every constable and officer is deployed right within the police compound, distributing fertilizer. P Sainath reports.

The forest regions in Brahmapuri and Chandrapur regions in Maharashtra are the scene of a spurt in tiger attacks for the last two years. Fear of attack has also caused significant damage to the forest-reliant local economy. Aparna Pallavi reports.

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 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.

Consent for relocation given by Jamni village in the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra was obtained under duress. Villagers protest against the manner in which the gram sabha had proceeded. Aparna Pallavi investigates.

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.

A hillock along this layout is blissfully peaceful. In that sense, the place is perhaps akin to heaven, indeed. But electricity, water and roads? Well.... 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.

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.

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.

There are more fronts in the fray across the State this time. And with multi-cornered contests in almost all seats, there could be some major upsets, writes P Sainath.

Will the Congress-NCP gain from a multiplicity of fronts which could dissipate the anti-Congress vote? Or will the Shiv Sena-BJP benefit from the Third Front's cutting into the Congress-NCP vote?