Ganeshotsav is at its best when it brings Maharashtra together. For ten days, neighbourhoods become communities and homes become welcoming spaces as devotion spills naturally into the streets. There is music, modaks and the unmistakable sense that the festival belongs to everyone. Few public celebrations have such a powerful capacity to create shared joy. Yet, in recent years, Ganeshotsav festivities have tended towards bombastic spectacle, be it the height of an idol or the

As Ganeshotsav confronts concerns over idol height, noise and food safety, Maharashtra must find a balance between devotion and responsible celebration. Ganpati is perhaps Maharashtra’s most iconic festival, occupying a unique place in the state’s social and cultural life. For ten days, the state becomes more spiritual, more musical and, appetite-wise, more generous. But this year, three words are likely to define Ganeshotsav as much as devotion itself: height, noise and pras

Introduces real time online system to access land records, property cards and mutation history Mumbai: In what is being hailed as the most comprehensive overhaul of property and revenue administration in the state’s history, Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced a sweeping series of land reforms on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference, the minister unveiled the establishment of a dedicated Maharashtra Land Bank, alongside an integrated digital pu

The Marathi language rule for auto and taxi drivers can promote integration, but only if it does not become another instrument of identity politics. The political scenario in Maharashtra has changed after the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) agitation, and every political party is now trying to woo ‘Gen Z’ which could emerge as a significant vote bank by 2029. But Maharashtra’s political conversation has moved to a much more emotionally charged issue: the Marathi language requi

Newborns dying in a fire inside a government hospital is a devastating indictment of a system that is supposed to protect its most vulnerable patients. The Amravati District Women’s Hospital tragedy, where a blaze killed three infants, joins a long list of preventable institutional failures. Thirty-nine babies were inside the three-compartment facility when the fire erupted after a ventilator in the neonatal unit caught fire. Thirty-six were eventually rescued. Parents and ey

Mumbai: Gadchiroli’s Assistant Police Inspector Wasudeo Rajam Madavi - who has 58 encounters with 101 kills during daring anti-Maoist operations - has been awarded the First Bar to his Gallantry Medal, in the President’s Independence Day honours list this year. The 2026 I-Day honours list of 82 awardees from Maharashtra has 21 brave-hearts from Gadchiroli. This is the second coveted distinction in a single year for Madawi , months after he was decorated with the Gallantry Med

The Kumbh Mela is supposed to be a celebration of faith. But in Maharashtra, it is beginning to look rather too much like an opportunity for fraudsters. For the BJP-led Mahayuti, the alleged Kumbh Mela scam is a potentially damaging test of political credibility and an unwelcome headache for Minister Girish Mahajan. The arrest of Tanay Mahajan, described as a distant relative of the Minister, in an alleged racket involving fake Kumbh work orders has handed the Opposition an o

India’s renewable-energy story is moving beyond electricity access to protecting rural value by cutting waste and strengthening livelihoods. AI generated image For decades, the story of rural energy in India was about providing electricity to communities. But the next chapter might be something more practical: what power can really do for rural economies. In Maharashtra, solar electricity is being used to cool milk, which sounds like a simple task. Dairy collection centers in

Three aviation incidents at Baramati in seven months should be enough to make even the most complacent regulator nervous. Instead, the runway appears to have been allowed to deteriorate while promises of an upgrade gather dust. There is something profoundly disturbing about the latest aircraft incident at Baramati where the two pilots fortunately escaped unharmed. In January this year, a chartered aircraft carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others

The greatest challenge before Maharashtra’s first Deputy CM is not merely to govern, but to forge a political identity that is unmistakably her own. Politics often rewards the loudest voice. The modern political arena thrives on sharp sound bites, relentless television appearances and instant responses on social media. Yet, some leaders begin their journey not with thunder but with quiet resolve. Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar finds herself at precisely suc

The state’s warehouse boom is redefining its industrial growth while posing difficult questions about planning and sustainability. Discussions about infrastructure in Maharashtra almost invariably gravitate towards marquee projects like the Mumbai Coastal Road, the Samruddhi Mahamarg, the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link or the upcoming Vadhavan Port. They dominate headlines because they offer visible proof of progress. Yet another transformation is unfolding with far less public at

The CJP movement in Maharashtra exposes the limits of an older political communication model and signals a changing relationship between young voters and power. Every generation arrives convinced that it understands the country better than the one before it. Indian cinema has repeatedly captured this quiet conflict between inherited wisdom and youthful impatience. From Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar to 3 Idiots and Udaan, the message has remained remarkably consistent: older generati

Maharashtra sits at the heart of India’s ethanol boom, but climate change and groundwater depletion threaten the sustainability of its biofuel ambitions. Switching to E20 petrol, which is 20 percent ethanol, is one of India’s most ambitious energy reforms in recent times. The Ethanol-Blended Petrol (EBP) program has transformed the face of India’s sugar business by reducing crude oil imports and transportation emissions, increasing energy security, and raising farmer incomes.

Nihar Shembekar reimagines Marathi bhajans and Abhangas for the new generation. Born into one of Maharashtra’s most celebrated musical families, Nihar Shembekar has travelled a remarkable path—from singing as a child artiste in the Bollywood blockbuster Gadar: Ek Prem Katha to emerging as one of the most innovative voices in contemporary Marathi music. The grandson of legendary singer Jaywant Kulkarni, Shembekar has chosen not to merely inherit a legacy but to reinterpret it

A shocking incident in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar has shaken not only Maharashtra but also the conscience of society. An underage student allegedly attacked his class teacher with a knife after being upset over failing the Class IX examination. Although the teacher sustained injuries, the deeper wounds were inflicted on our education system, the sacred bond between teachers and students, and the values that hold society together. This was not merely an attack on an individual-

Maharashtra’s enduring epidemic of farmer suicides is a saga of an agricultural policy that has repeatedly failed to reduce structural risk. Each election season, India’s farmers are the subject of political debate. Governments promise to write off loans, offer compensation packages, and set up new welfare programs. But as the ballots are counted, another grim statistic emerges from the villages of Maharashtra: another farmer has taken his own life. For almost three decades

The substantial showers over Maharashtra this year have predictably demonstrated that it is not the skies but the government that has failed the state. The intense downpour once again exposed the frailty of the infrastructure that the ruling establishment has been celebrating. From Mumbai’s paralysed roads to the shocking deaths in open manholes sans guardrails, to the collapse of transport links between Mumbai and Pune, the rains have held up an unforgiving mirror to officia

Maharashtra’s new policy promises to streamline its educational welfare institutions but leaves deeper structural flaws untouched. For years, Maharashtra’s alphabet soup of educational welfare institutions - SARTHI, BARTI, Mahajyoti, TRTI and AMRUT - has invited the same complaints. Students have grappled with differing eligibility rules, opaque procedures and uneven implementation. A unified policy governing these bodies, announced by the state government on July 1st, ought

As Maharashtra accelerates its industrial expansion, a debate over a PFAS-linked chemical plant in Ratnagiri compels politicians to face a difficult question: Can economic growth be achieved without compromising environmental security? Every industrial success story raises a similar question: who will pay the environmental bill of such growth? The issue has recently taken on a new urgency in Ratnagiri, with local residents and environmental groups protesting allegations tha

From Alpine resorts to India’s sacred hilltops, gravity-defying funicular railways are quietly transforming the way people climb mountains. For centuries, climbing a sacred hill has been regarded as part of the pilgrimage itself. Devotees have trudged up thousands of stone steps to temples perched on mountain tops, accepting the physical exertion as an expression of faith. But modern India is now discovering that devotion need not always be accompanied by exhaustion. Across M