maharashtra

Even the remover of all obstacles, Lord Ganesha, has not been able to come to the aid of the makers of his idols this year. As Ganesh Chaturthi approaches, traditional Ganesha idol makers like Sanket Kumbhar, Dheeresh Naik, Haresh Mhatre, can only hope that the Lord will make the coming weeks less harsh. Looks unlikely though, especially as the government has restricted all public gatherings and festivities that the city’s various Ganesh mandals, their main customers, would normally organise. The numbers tell the story. “In the years gone by, all my family members would come together and make about 3,000-3500…

It’s called Mission Begin Again, Maharashtra’s plans to slowly remove lockdown restrictions and get life back to a new kind of normal. And one directive issued under this Mission, which came into effect from June 3rd, has brought cheer to Pune’s burgeoning cycling community. Phase I of the Mission lists the outdoor physical activities that citizens can engage in, amongst which cycling features prominently. “People are actively encouraged to use cycling as a form of physical exercise as it automatically ensures social distancing,” reads the directive issued by the state’s department of Revenue and Forest, Disaster Management and Relief and…

While the lockdown may have seen a comeback of birds and animals in urban areas, for forest officers, the period has also meant more work thwarting and catching miscreants in the forests in and around cities. For the first time, Maharashtra officials are conducting drone surveillance to monitor and protect the flora and fauna in the wilds. Maharashtra has about 6733 sq km of protected forests (including six national parks, 48 wildlife sanctuaries and three conservation reserves) covering over 3.03% of its total geographical area of 307,713 sq kms, as per the India State of Forest Report, 2019. Historically, a severely short-staffed…

They have been among the frontline corona virus warriors since March 25th. And also among those badly hit by the virus. With Mumbai in particular showing record daily jumps in positive cases, its policemen have suffered too. Take just one day, March 26th. According to the state health department, Maharashtra had a total of 3,041 new coronavirus patients on that day, of which 1889 were police personnel (207 officers and 1682 other ranks). Also, 20 policemen have died so far from the infection. Yet, they remain on the frontlines, manning high risk spots like containment centres and railway stations. And…

The whole country is in lockdown in the hope of containing coronavirus. But as WHO has warned, lockdowns alone aren’t enough to tackle the pandemic. A critical step in containing coronavirus is contact tracing -- identifying anyone who came in contact with an infected person, quarantining and monitoring them. But in many of our cities, particularly in north India, contact tracing has been poor or even non-existent. Besides, there’s been large scale and blatant violations of the Central guidelines on mandatory quarantine of those who have returned from abroad. The worst offender is perhaps Bhopal, which doesn’t seem to have…

Take a walk around Bhiwandi. Much of what you will see are shuttered powerloom units gathering dust and rust. During its heyday, Bhiwandi, in Thane district, had the highest cluster of powerlooms in the country, and was a huge employment hub with workers hailing from other states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Today this once-thriving business is facing extinction, thanks to GST, demonetisation and cheaper competition, rendering thousands of workers jobless.  “More than half the karigars (workers) have returned to their native place as major textile units have shut down,” said Dilshad Sayyed Ahmed Ansari, who has been working…

Few citizens in Mumbai are seen wearing a mask outdoors; fewer are actively concerned about air pollution. “It’s not as bad as Delhi”, most say, and inevitably point to the winds that blow from the surrounding sea. The murky, grey and polluted water might make them reconsider their statement, but the feeling that Mumbai is better than the northern landlocked cities wins. But when winter arrived last year, the sea winds failed Mumbai. In the month of December, temperatures dropped in the city but pollutants remained trapped in the atmosphere. The overall air quality index (AQI) was reported to be…

With every year in the 21st century getting hotter than the previous, the question arises if Indian cities are geared up to face the severe summers that loom large. Heat waves across the country have turned out to be silent killers. According to one report from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), heat wave casualties are increasing every year and India was worst hit by heat waves in 2015, causing 2300 deaths, making it the fifth highest in world history in terms of number of deaths. But the numbers often go unnoticed. Most of the deaths were concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,…