Supporters from the Tibetan Youth Congress react during a protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Monday against China's new ethnic unity law. Pic: Bhushan Koyande Mumbai: Over 250 Tibetan refugees, activists and members of the Friends of Tibet took out a rally and demonstrated near the Chinese Consulate in Mumbai as part of an international action to protest against China’s new Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law (EUPPL). The Tibetans living in Mumbai were joined by other pr

The delayed monsoon is a reminder that the choices we make today about development and the environment will shape the climate inherited by future generations. Mumbai is experiencing an unusually delayed monsoon this year, accompanied by prolonged spells of extreme heat and humidity. Across many parts of India, rainfall patterns have become increasingly erratic. While some regions receive intense cloudbursts, others face long dry spells. This raises an important question: Are

Mumbai: On June 28, passengers travelling between Matunga and Mulund stations, as well as between Thane and Vashi, are likely to face inconvenience due to a mega block. There will also be a jumbo block on the weekends between Bhayandar and Borivali stations. Central Railway On Sunday, train services will be suspended due to a mega block between Matunga and Mulund stations. The services on the Trans-Harbour Line between Thane and Vashi stations, will also be suspended. This ac

Mumbai: Against the backdrop of an ugly controversy that erupted last week in Malad, a delegation of prominent office-bearers from a Jain community organisation called on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Raj Thackeray, and tendered a written apology. The delegation included Deepak Savla and K. N. Maniar, Trustees of the ‘Shree Dhanna-Shalibhadra Tapagach Shwetambar Murti Pujak Aradhak Jain Sangh’ Malad, who tendered the apology – in Marathi – to Raj Thackeray and profusely expresse

Kunal Shah’s rise from city entrepreneur to global head of WhatsApp signals that India is producing genuine architects of the digital age. For much of the internet era, the world’s defining digital products were imagined in California. The next chapter looks markedly different. Artificial intelligence, digital finance and ubiquitous connectivity have flattened the distance between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world. Increasingly, the most interesting ideas are emerging

Mumbai: Dadar is the only railway station in Mumbai that has no authorised water connection. This, as per the sources, is due to an ongoing dispute between the Western Railway and the BMC. The tussle between the BMC and the Western Railway has led to a strange situation. The Western Railway is asking the BMC to pay Rs 338 crore for way leave charges, and the Western Railway has to pay Rs 22 Lakh to the BMC. The tussle has been going on for 12 years and remains unresolved. As

Three weeks after issuing InterPol Notice Ganesh Balaso Kale Mumbai: In one of the swiftest international manhunts in recent years, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), working in close coordination with multiple Indian and foreign agencies, secured the deportation of notorious cybercrime accused Ganesh Balaso Kale from Thailand to Mumbai - barely 21 days after an Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) was issued against him. Absconding since nearly a year, Kale was wanted

Mumbai has always lived with inconvenience. Its residents have tolerated overcrowded trains and endless traffic snarls during the worst of the seasons and its perpetually crumbling construction with a stoicism unimaginable in most global cities. They have done so because they have long been promised by the ruling class that today’s discomfort will yield tomorrow’s improvement. However, the recent controversy surrounding the newly opened extension of the Mrinal Tai Gore flyove

Scientists call for urgent comprehensive strategy Mumbai: As the annual monsoon rains sweep across the Indian subcontinent, they bring essential respite from the summer heat but also unleash a devastating environmental hazard by flushing massive volumes of land-based plastic into the ocean. Scientific data unveiled during a national workshop on World Environment Day revealed that the monsoon acts as a potent accelerator for India’s marine pollution crisis. According to fi

Mumbai: Mumbai is to get the Mumbai Metro Region’s largest metro corridor, Metro Line 5, at 34.21 km, following the approval of its extended phases. At the same time, Phase 1 of the project is progressing towards the CMRS inspection stage. This can be seen as a major boost to regional connectivity across the MMR. Extension of Line 5, which is Metro Line 5A, will increase connectivity across Thane, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar and surrounding growth centres. Earlier, Metro Lin

Mumbai: Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides described cinema as a powerful medium that transcends borders, connects cultures and introduces people to a country even before they visit it, here. Arriving in Mumbai on a 4-day State Visit to India, President Christodoulides unveiled the first-ever Indo-Cypriot joint film venture which will be shot in his country. “Film locations are deeply linked to identity, emotion and storytelling. Cyprus is an ‘open studio’ offering di

Mumbai: The Supreme Court’s Tuesday order on the euthanasia for the dogs that are rabid or are aggressive and dangerous has evoked a mixed reactions from animal lovers in Mumbai. Pooja Sathe Gawande, a dog trainer, sees the order as a positive rule not just for the humans but also for the animal, who would otherwise go through a lot of pain. “The order is in the public interest for their health and safety. So the dogs that have rabies or are incurably ill, which means they ca

Mumbai: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationwide ‘austerity’ drive gathers steam, Maharashtra appears to have embraced the campaign with a blend of seriousness, symbolism and political theatrics. With fuel conservation offering a windfall of photo opportunities, protest pageantry, bouts of comedy, the people and politicians took up the frugality challenge with gusto – on motorcycles and electric cars to white horses or horse-carriages and bullock-carts, or plain footing

Mumbai’s grand transport infrastructure is undermined by potholes, Poor discipline and a last-mile gaps that keeps it crawling Mumbai: It is morning time, and Pawan Khandelwal is all set to leave for work. A creative lead at an ad agency in Malad, Mumbai, Khandelwal should take 12 to 15 minutes to reach the office, but that rarely happens because of the traffic, poor road quality and lack of civic sense among co-drivers on the road. He mostly ends up reaching the office in 30

While we have gained privacy and independence, we have lost the ease and warmth of everyday connection. As I look around at life in today’s high-rise buildings, particularly in a dense and fast-moving city like Mumbai, one thing becomes increasingly and unmistakably clear—our homes have grown taller and more vertical, but our connections, in many ways, have grown quieter and more distant. We live stacked floor above floor, often separated not just by concrete walls and closed

On May 6, 1929, a child was born in Cavel, between Kalbadevi and Girgaum, Mumbai, who would later inspire confidence in policing and make a difference to people's lives. He would instil fear among Mumbai's underworld, communal rioters in Gujarat and terrorists in Punjab with his strategic planning and tactics. That is Julio Francis Ribeiro for you, who will now turn 97 years. After his studies at St Xavier's School, Mumbai, he completed B. Com at Sydenham College of Commerce

Maharashtra is wilting under the onslaught of successive heat waves. What was once dismissed as the predictable discomfort of an Indian summer has taken on a harsher character this summer. Cities like Pune, long celebrated for their temperate climate and breezy evenings, are now enduring heat conditions more reminiscent of the parched interiors of Vidarbha than the gentler Deccan plateau. Across districts, thermometers have climbed to unfamiliar highs while more tellingly, th

In the long, uneven story of Mumbai’s transport modernisation, there are moments when intent finally aligns with necessity. The decision by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to revive work on Metro Line 14 is one such moment. It is, unequivocally, good news. But it will remain so only if urgency follows intent. The proposed 43.69-km corridor from Kanjurmarg to Badlapur is a major corrective to a structural imbalance in Mumbai’s growth. For decades, the east

Mumbai: Amid mounting concerns over delayed emergency response in congested neighbourhoods, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is preparing to enforce parking restrictions in several narrow lanes across the city, where indiscriminate on-street parking has increasingly emerged as a critical civic hazard. The move, expected to be implemented soon, is aimed at ensuring unobstructed access for fire engines and ambulances in densely populated pockets where even minor del