The fallout of our caste legacy shows itself in brutal ways; the killing of a Dalit youth in a village in Aurangabad district on Monday is but the most recent example. The man was tied to an electric pole and stoned to death for attacking a young woman, who was a Maratha. The people who attacked and killed him were also apparently Marathas.

City colleges are doing their best to help stressed students with bang-on online counselling

Ma’am… I need your help. It’s personal. I don’t know what to do. That is why I am writing to you. The problem is I have been having constant headaches for one year but doctors say I am perfectly fine. Can you help?”

It may not sound like an unusual problem to us, but city colleges are donning the role of agony aunts to counsel their students, providing guidance through online and one-on-one counselling. Though they do provide help on different aspects of academics, including exams and presentations, stress, depression, relationship problems, loneliness have become integral issues too.

It is official now. Among the biggest rock-cut cave temples in India, the Jogeshwari caves will soon be free of human habitation and encroachment. 

The 6th century AD caves, which have been infested with encroachments and abused over the years, will, instead, be a place which tourists could visit as a heritage site and a garden. 

Following a Bombay High Court order for the removal of unauthorised structures in October last year, the state has decided to preserve the heritage precinct by designating the space as a public garden. The plot on which the caves exist will now be declared a heritage garden space. 

The debate between heritage and development is a constant in any city which has to accommodate the past and present and make arrangements for the future. But in Mumbai, this debate gets a sharper edge because of its space constraints and its burgeoning population. Should development be stalled or prevented just to preserve a dead monument which takes space and gives aesthetic pleasure only to a discerning few? Or should heritage be given its due, as both a matter of pride as well as a society which acknowledges its journey through time?

In what may be its last move before the election code of conduct sets in, the government on Tuesday cut excise duty and service tax rates by 2% each. Given the slowdown, lower tax collections — both direct and indirect — have already hit government revenues. The tax incentives mean the fiscal deficit would widen further. 

A host of other measures being implemented by the government, such as debt relief for farmers and pay hike for government employees, have already put the fiscal position under stress. Experts say revenues would be hit to the extent of Rs 30,000 crore, pushing up the fiscal deficit to 6.5% of the gross domestic product from current 6% now. 

Mamata and Congress could have been allies but for a mismatch in goals

Leveraging opportunity is natural enough in order to drive a bargain forward, though it may not be sufficient to cement an alliance that must hold not only just long enough to get a few more seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections but also in the eventuality of the most desired outcome being defeated by popular choice.