Prof Dr Anand Patil The Government of Maharashtra’s Academy of Literature and Culture has recently published an ambitious trilogy of Marathi works on cultural theory and criticism — a project entrusted to one of India’s senior comparatists, the former Head and Professor of English at Goa University, Prof Dr Anand Patil. Despite spending two decades in Goa, where much of his experimental work in Marathi and English went largely unnoticed in Maharashtra, his contribution is formidable: 10 books...

Weak anti-superstition law remains a showpiece; fake ‘babas’ flourish, women exploited, crores swindled. Twelve years after Dr Narendra Dabholkar’s murder, his fight for a strong law remains unfinished. Maharashtra has long prided itself on being the land of saints, warriors and pioneering social reformers. It is this legacy that shaped the State’s progressive identity. But today, that very land stands overshadowed by a rising empire of tantriks, occult practitioners and self-styled godmen...

Corporation, which tables a Rs 1,000-crore budget, has wandered for 50 years without owning its building Kolhapur: When those in power treat public land casually—when governments and administrators shrug off responsibility—the loss inflicted on society is permanent. Public facilities shrink, generations suffer, and land sharks waiting in the shadows walk away laughing. Kolhapur is witnessing exactly such a tragedy today. For years, a nexus of civic officials, political handlers and land mafia...