Maharashtra Minister Pankaj Bhoyar reports a decline in dowry-related crimes over the past five years, attributing it to intensified government efforts through vigilance committees and special probe teams.
The Maharashtra assembly has passed the Freedom of Religion Bill 2026, introducing strict measures to prevent religious conversions through coercion, fraud, or marriage, sparking debate over constitutional rights and religious freedom.
Maharashtra's political leaders, led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, paid tribute to the late Deputy CM Ajit Pawar during the state legislature's budget session, remembering him as a capable leader and administrator.
The Opposition in Maharashtra boycotted the government's customary tea party on the eve of the Winter session, citing its failure to appoint leaders of the opposition (LoPs) in both houses of the state legislature.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asserted that Marathi is the language of Mumbai and Maharashtra and anyone who lives here should learn and speak it. Fadnavis was speaking in the state assembly after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said the government should clarify its stand on senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi.
The Samajwadi Party announced on Saturday that it would walk out of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi after Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray's close aide hailed the demolition of Babri mosque and a related newspaper advertisement.
Amid talks of cross-voting, three of the 37 Congress MLAs in Maharashtra skipped a meeting called by the party ahead of the legislative council polls on Friday.
The Congress is all set to kickstart its campaign for the next year's Lok Sabha elections with its mega rally 'Hain Tayyar Hum' to be held in Maharashtra's Nagpur city on Thursday, the party's 139th foundation day.
It was a courtesy call as they had worked with Thackeray as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government for the last two-and-half years, said Congress leader Nitin Raut.
The Maharashtra government has invoked the MESMA barring employees of state-run electricity companies from joining the protest.
'Uddhavji will face the no confidence motion on the floor of the House whenever it happens.'
Expressing grief over the tragedy, Thackeray directed the administration to ensure that those responsible for it get strict punishment.
Thackeray said people should be aware of how religious issues are raked up to distract their attention from core issues.
Shinde attended the state cabinet meeting earlier this week. He is the 13th state minister to be infected by the disease.
The mortal remains of Congress MP Rajeev Satav, who died after recovering from COVID-19, were consigned to flames with state honours at his native place Kalamnuri in Maharashtra's Hingoli district.
"Some areas of Maharashtra will witness strict lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus infection. The government is going to hold a special meeting with officials before coming out with the lockdown measures," Thackeray said.
A complete lockdown will be imposed in Nagpur City police commissionerate area from March 15 to March 21 over the spread of Covid-19, the administration has announced.
He also said the party workers and citizens need not worry about his health and that he will be back among all after a brief period of rest.
'The Mumbai Police has sent me 2 notices in the last 12 hours saying they want to immediately interrogate me regarding my comments on Sonia Gandhi. 'As a law abiding citizen I will cooperate with the investigation, subject myself to interrogation tomorrow (Monday) morning,' Goswami said in a statement.
Thackeray held a meeting on the issue and instructed authorities concerned to ensure there is no recurrence of the episode, an official statement said.
Cyclonic storm 'Tauktae', which hit the Gujarat coast in Saurashtra region between Diu and Una on Monday night after passing close to the Konkan coast in Maharashtra, disrupted the power supply of 18.43 lakh consumers in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts, an official release said.
The power failure comes at a time when the state is reeling under power deficit.
Lockdown in Amravati city in Maharashtra was extended for a week on Saturday in view of the coronavirus situation, while restrictions were also imposed for the weekend in Nagpur, Buldhana and Yavatmal.
Maharashtra energy minister said the power breakdown in the metropolis was "not a small issue".
The "load shedding", which entails compulsory power cuts in select areas, will be carried out both in urban and rural areas, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company said in a statement.
Union Power Minister R K Singh says the Mumbai power outage of October 2020 was caused by 'human error'.
Train movement halted between Andheri and Churchgate railway stations as the power supply stopped, Western Railway's chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said.
While Cong has made sure that it will follow the central leadership's line on Citizenship Act, Sena and NCP said they will take a decision after discussing the matter.
'We are planning load shedding in such a way that the entire state will not suffer.'
While the BJP wants a bigger share, on the back of its spectacular performance in the April-May Lok Sabha polls, the Sena is not willing to play ball, said sources from both parties.
Congress leaders and workers continued their protests in several states on Thursday against Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in the National Herald money-laundering case with many of them taken into preventive custody including former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury in Hyderabad after she allegedly grabbed the collar of a police official.
'If there is a sudden drop or increase in the demand or supply in the grid, there could be disturbance in the grid frequency'
The chief minister said that COVID-appropriate behaviour is a must and those violating the rules will be punished.
A controversy erupted on Monday after several opposition parties demanded that migrant workers should not be charged for the train tickets. While the Congress offered to pay for them, the Bharatiya Janata Party said the railways was already providing subsidised tickets bearing 85 percent of the travel costs.
Portfolios were distributed 2 weeks after the MVA govt was sworn-in. Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde will be home minister while NCP's Jayant Patil will be finance minister.
Thorat, 66, has been a farmers' leader and has been involved in the cooperative movement in Maharashtra. He is also a former revenue minister
Chhagan Bhujbal, Jayant Patil (both from the NCP), Balasaheb Thorat and Nitin Raut (both from the Congress), Eknath Shinde and Subhash Desai (both from the Sena) took oath as ministers along with Thackeray.
India's jugalbandhi with coal and clean energy is coming unstuck, neither achieving adequate renewable generation nor ensuring sufficient coal-fired power in the quest to become a $5-trillion economy. Six months have elapsed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ambitious climate agenda for India at COP26 at Glasgow. The net zero emissions target by 2070 is a distant one, but there are nearer-term plans to meet 50 per cent of energy demand with renewables by 2030 by increasing capacity to 450 Gw. A cursory look at the balance sheet of India's climate progress since November reveals ponderous progress towards meeting the renewables target even as the country is scrambling to expand coal-fired generation in the face of a power crisis.
The agitation for a separate Vidarbha state gained momentum on Monday with all political parties barring Shiv Sena deciding to intensify the movement and call a bandh in support of their demand.
'Hackers from China and UK were involved in the October 12 power outage,' Maharashtra power minister tells Rediff.com.
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