Arunkumar Bhatt MUMBAI: With the first and second sowing of cotton failing in the five districts of Vidarbha, the agrarian crisis in the region has further deepened, making Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti demand in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, free distribution of coarse grains seeds such as bajra and jowar and assistance of Rs. 2000 an acre to save the debt-hit three million farmers. As the rain plays truant, five districts in the region have not received even one hour of continuous rain, leading to dry conditions.

Meena Menon MUMBAI: Very poor rainfall in Maharashtra has led to the State announcing that it is experiencing conditions akin to scarcity, according to a review by the Cabinet on Wednesday. Sixteen districts in the State have received rainfall below 50 per cent till July 8. The water storage in reservoirs is only 22 per cent against 47 per cent last year.

Mumbai, July 09 The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's epidemiology cell recorded another death due to leptospirosis, taking the overall death toll due to monsoon-related ailments to 41. A 50-year-old man, a resident of Nal Bazar, succumbed to leptospirosis on Wednesday morning at 2 am. He was admitted to the BYL Nair Hospital at Mumbai Central on Thursday.

Mumbai, July 09 About 180.42 hectares of salt-pan lands around the prime locations of Dadar, Naigaum and part of the main city, have been declared as

Pune July 08 Tata Johnson Controls Automotive, Tata Ficaso plan to shift units in time to meet November deadline

Mumbai, July 8 The state government has notified over 3,000 hectares of mangroves in and around Mumbai as

Nagpur- Two more persons were arrested by Forest officials in the Chinkara hunting case, which prompted Dharmaraobaba Atram to resign as Maharashtra's transport minister. Shripati Wadkar and Sandip Mane were arrested on Tuesday from Pachgani and were remanded to police custody till July 11. Two others, Suresh Biramane and Pradip Wadkar, were arrested on last Friday. Their remand was also extended to July 11.

Pune July 07 Congress legislator questions civic body's wisdom in use of EWS space Pointing out that affordable housing for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of society is as badly needed as slum rehabilitation, Congress MLA Balasaheb Shivarkar has taken on the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). He has charged the civic administration with using land reserved for EWS housing towards slum rehabilitation projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Over three weeks after his name surfaced in a chinkara hunting case, Minister of State for Transport Dharmaraobaba Bhagwantrao Atram resigned from the state Cabinet on Monday. The state Forest Department had seized Atram's Ford Endeavour in connection with the hunting incident near Gulunche village in Purandar taluka of Pune district

Sometimes, difficult though it is to believe, disasters herald miracles. Three years ago, a bad distribution and service network had led Fiat's brand charisma to take a bruising fall from grace. Production of its automobiles, the Uno, Siena, Palio and Adventure, had dwindled from 32,000 cars in 2002 to a dismal 1,732 in 2005. Even the Gods, it appeared, had conspired against the company, as the catastrophic Mumbai flood of July 2005 brought Fiat's Kurla plant to a total standstill, nearly drowning one of India's most enduring brands in its fury.