In the 1960s, Maharashtra ended famine forever by passing an Act that deleted the word 'famine' from all laws of the State. It's an idea that is still in fashion, writes P Sainath.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Girl children who were given names that reflected their unwanted status are being renamed in Maharashtra, in a new initiative to reverse the decline in sex ratio. Freny Manecksha reports.

Small rain-fed farms are crucial to agriculture turning around. Will India tackle this structural problem? Jaideep Hardikar has more.

The State has quietly pushed through a set of changes to the way it treats RTI applications. Activists discovered it quite accidentally, and are shocked. Krishnaraj Rao writes.

Tamasha, a traditional dance form in Maharashtra for ages, is now dying. Audiences have new preferences, fashioned more by Bollywood than tradition. Ramesh Menon 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.

Maharashtra's politics is in uproar, as the dubious record of the irrigation department provides fodder for a proxy NCP-Congress war. The issues, however, demand real attention, writes Shripad Dharmadhikary.

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.

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.

Displaced by the flawed implementation of Slum Rehabilitation Authority's policy and an unholy nexus of real-estate mafia, thousands of slum-dwellers continue to fight for their basic right to shelter. Swati Priya reports from Mumbai.

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.

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.

Jackfruit from the farm of Maharashtra's Prakash Sawanth yielded fruit in a record two years, an unheard of agricultural phenomenon in the country. Shrikrishna D reports on the many specialities of the new variety.

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.

India's commercial capital suffers from a deplorable lack of open spaces and falls far below both national and global standards in that respect. Clearly, the BMC is not tuned in to the requirements, as Darryl D'Monte shows in his report on the draft development plan for the city.

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.

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.

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.

The recently released CAG audit report on Maharashtra has heavily criticized the time and cost overruns in Gosikhurd irrigation project in Vidarbha. Himanshu Upadhyaya analyses the report to list the shortcomings of the project.

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

Although most members of the Mahila Shanti Sena are illiterate labourers, they are very aware of the strength of thier force, and the importance of their role in society. Alka Arya reports on a women's movement that is tackling complex social and economic questions with a deep conviction for peace.

Half a century of harvests ago, the plans to control the flooding of the Kosi river got underway. The lives of those who live within its embankments have never been the same again; successive governments have failed them, and the practices that brought them such misery have remained firmly in place, notes Dinesh Mishra.

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.

Elections in Bihar move into the final phase today. Polling began on 18 October with the first of four phases. For a total of 243 seats in the State Assembly, 1607 candidates have been in the running. Of these, 446 candidates (nearly 2 competitors per seat) have criminal records. Varupi Jain reports.

In a number of dalit settlements in Gaya, Bihar, there are school structures but no teachers. In some places, where there are both, as in Parariya village, the dominant Yadavs make intrusive and insulting remarks that do not provide a facilitating environment. Rahul Ramagundam reports.

This northern most district of Bihar, bordering Nepal, has hordes of dalit hindu and muslim children working at hotels and restaurants in violation of a statutory order prohibiting such work. Everything from education policy, to law enforcement, to rehabilitation has been messed up, finds Rahul Ramagundam.

An indifferent political system, trading of charges between state and central governments, and the apathy of the Water Resources Department have together created and compounded the misery of floods in Bihar. When floods struck this year, all the measures collapsed like a house of cards, which again is not a new phenomenon, writes Dinesh Kumar 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.

A recent study on the Kosi deluge asserts that embankments are the root cause of the present crises. Only a longterm micro-level study of why the river course is changing along with firm policy decisions can remedy the situation, says Sudhirendar Sharma.

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.

In a state dreaded for its work culture environment and record of poor public entrepreneurship, the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam, which was on the verge of being liquidated, has now turned the corner and built over 330 bridges in three years. Ramesh Menon chronicles the inspiring journey.

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.

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.

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.

Citizens of other states also could take hope from the results in Bihar, and demand that their politicians too provide enduring social benefits rather than simply stoking prejudice, writes Ramachandra Guha.

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.

Initiatives under the ‘My Space My unManifesto’ campaign to bring about a political reawakening and engagement among Dalit youth have led to a new-found consciousness and perspective among them. Manisha Prakash reports.