The gold loan portfolio across the system has nearly doubled to Rs 15.6 lakh crore in two years to November 2025, as a spike in prices of the precious commodity encouraged lenders to increase their exposures to the safer segment, a report said on Wednesday.
Once the might of the Indian establishment turned completely against the Maoists, there was no way they could survive -- either in Gadchiroli or anywhere else, points out M R Narayan Swamy.
Counting of votes has begun in the Maharashtra municipal corporation elections, with a focus on the Mumbai battle between the BJP-led alliance and the Thackeray factions.
Three migrant workers from West Bengal were allegedly assaulted in Maharashtra after being suspected of being 'Bangladeshis' for speaking Bengali. The workers claim they were confronted, assaulted, and had their identity questioned despite showing Aadhaar cards.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has made significant progress in challenging the Thackeray family's control over Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) after nearly 25 years. The results mark a potential shift in Mumbai's civic politics, with the BJP emerging as a central force.
'The watershed moment was June 22, 2024, when the divisional in-charge of Gadchiroli, Giridhar Tumreti, who was their senior-most commander, along with his wife, came forward to surrender before the then deputy chief minister and home minister Devendra Fadnavis.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Congress of handing over Assam's land to infiltrators for votes during its rule in the northeastern state.
The Maharashtra Highway Traffic Police have advised motorists to avoid the Mumbai-Pune Expressway until regular traffic movement is restored.
'They are not abandoning their ideology. They now believe it is better to pursue their goals through the Constitution rather than from the barrel of a gun -- even if the ideology itself remains intact.'
With the Congress coming third overall and having done much better than Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP, its allies in Maha Vikas Aghadi, political analysts said it will force a rethink as far as coordination, seat-sharing and leadership are concerned ahead of the 2029 assembly polls.
A bravery medal is awarded to a person on grounds of rare conspicuous act of gallantry, and conspicuous act of gallantry in saving life and property, or in preventing crime or arresting criminals, the risk incurred being estimated with due regard to the obligations and duties of the officer concerned.
Polling for 2,869 seats spread across 893 wards in these municipal corporations began amid tight security at 7.30 am and will conclude at 5.30 pm. A total of 3.48 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates.
A long-billed vulture, J132, released in Maharashtra's Pench Tiger Reserve, has travelled nearly 750 km in 17 days, reaching close to Anjaneri hills near Trimbakeshwar in Nashik district. The vulture's journey is part of a conservation program by the state forest department and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
Despite forging an alliance with the faction led by his uncle, Nationalist Congress Party chief and Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday failed to protect the party's traditional bastions of Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad, as the Bharatiya Janata Party decimated both the NCPs in the municipal corporation elections.
Developed to meet the growing transportation needs of modern India, the fully AC Vande Bharat sleeper train would offer passengers an "airline-like travel experience at economical fares," a statement issued by the PMO stated.
Maharashtra heads to the polls for 29 municipal corporations, with Mumbai's BMC election taking center stage as the BJP-led Mahayuti faces off against the Thackeray front. Key issues include promises for women, pollution control, and the city's financial health.
Breaking the nearly three-decade-old dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday emerged victorious in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and also vanquished the alliance of Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar in the Pune civic body.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) faces a crucial test in the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra after being defeated by the BJP-led Mahayuti in recent local polls. Political observers are calling the upcoming contest for 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, a mini assembly election.
Leafy greens are an essential part of Indian cooking, showing up in everyday meals as well as in unique regional specialities.
Congress MLC Pradnya Satav joined the BJP in Maharashtra, prompting accusations of undemocratic practices and political maneuvering ahead of local elections.
Internet subscribers, income growth, literacy and dependency ratio are the biggest drivers of growth.
'If the BJP had contested all 227 seats, I believe they would have managed to secure a majority on their own.'
Brookfield Asset Management will invest $1 billion to develop Asia's largest global capability centre (GCC) in Mumbai's Powai, the New York-based global alternative asset manager said in a statement on Friday. The infrastructure arm of Canada's investment firm will develop the campus across 6 acres with 2 million square feet that can be let out.
The BJP has emerged as the most dominant force in the recently-held municipal council and nagar panchayat elections in Maharashtra, securing the highest number of seats in five out of the state's six administrative divisions.
Maharashtra BJP president Ravindra Chavan apologized for his remarks about 'erasing' memories of former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh after facing criticism from the Congress party and Deshmukh's family.
All of India gets ready for the mid-winter harvest festival, turning out laddoos, Pongal, Puran Poli and other endless delights.
These 8 states emerged as the country's most-travelled destinations for local Indian visitors, according to Ministry Of Tourism's most recent statistics which are from 2024.
Inspector general of police, Bastar Range, Sundarraj P said that bodies of seven Maoist cadres have been recovered from the encounter site so far.
The tactical alliance between the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) may not have aided the Thackeray cousins to win the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, but the pact helped them keep intact their traditional strongholds.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, his deputy Eknath Shinde and other legislators of the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena visited the memorial of RSS founder K B Hedgewar in Nagpur. NCP legislators, including Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, skipped the visit.
'You've got to understand it is not easy to die by suicide.' 'People commit suicide only when they lose everything and find no other way to live.'
'It would have polarised the Marathi-non Marathi divide further. 'Fadnavis had a very clear strategy: Let all Marathi people campaign for us (the BJP), and whatever results we get will be delivered by Marathi people only.'
'Given that the population is almost evenly split, the Indian economy cannot grow without women participating in the workforce.' 'While women's participation has increased, it is still well below 40 per cent,' says Kartik Narayan, CEO of the professional networking and jobs platform, Apna.
'For the remaining Maoist cadres, they shall soon confront one of two outcomes: Either surrender or face neutralisation.'
'Marathi-speaking people of Mumbai have now emerged as a consolidated vote bank standing firmly behind the Thackerays.'
The Maharashtra government, led by CM Devendra Fadnavis, will petition the central government to rename IIT Bombay as IIT Mumbai, following controversy over a Union minister's remarks on the institute's name. The move comes amid political tensions and concerns about the city's identity.
'When a grassroots worker has laboured day and night for the organisation, does the party not have a responsibility to recognise and uplift such workers?'
The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has ordered the shutdown of 19 ready mix concrete plants in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region for violating environmental guidelines and contributing to deteriorating air quality levels.
'From every point of view, they have faced an extremely difficult couple of years, and the setback they have suffered is irreversible.' 'This reality has begun to set in even amongst the top-level cadres. That is why, in recent times, we have witnessed a huge number of senior-level cadres emerging from the jungle and deciding to renounce violence and join the mainstream.'
Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde launched a veiled attack on Uddhav Thackeray, invoking characters from a film to criticize Thackeray's leadership and policies ahead of upcoming municipal elections. Shinde highlighted government initiatives and defended his position, while also criticizing the opposition's performance.
