Mahesh Vijapurkar
Read biographyMahesh Vijapurkar likes to take a worm’s eye-view of issues – that is, from the common man’s perspective. He was a journalist with The Indian Express and then The Hindu and now potters around with human development and urban issues.
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Uddhav Thackeray’s bid half-hearted, Raj unlikely to bite
To say that Uddhav Thackeray, the new Shiv Sena chief has opened his arms to embrace Raj Thackeray, on the basis of the interview in yesterday’s Saamana, the former’s mouthpiece would be an exaggeration. The very idea of the two getting together in the interest of the Marathi Manoos they #HowThisWorks #MNS #Raj Thackeray #Shiv Sena #Uddhav Thackeray
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Were Chautala supporters trying to browbeat the judiciary?
“And then he was led away to the prison” does have a ring of finality in any news report when a criminal is sentenced. But, it overlooks several possibilities, including the convict moving a higher court in appeal. This is the course former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala would #Om Prakash Chautala #PoliticsDecoder
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Why Prakash Ambedkar’s big ‘casteless’ idea falls flat
Had it come from a non-Dalit, there would have been an immediate outrage. Since the proponent is himself a Dalit, the suggestion that colleges should do away with seeking caste identity during admissions, and that caste-based quota in legislatures and Parliament should be given up, the response is less that #InMyOpinion #Prakash Ambedkar
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Thane: Look what the builders are selling as dream destination
If only a city were all about malls and towers! Unfortunately, the builder-developer community, firmly entrenched in Thane City, makes you believe that it is so. It has been coming out with glossy real estate pullouts, promising the garnish of clubs and swimming pools within the enclaves of towers, and of #ConnectTheDots #Thane
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Rent-seeking: How landowners exercise their ‘residual’ rights
Rent-seekers are a class apart. They can and do find avenues of earning their incomes from things that don’t belong to them, like the goon who takes protection money from the petty hawkers and builds his own coffers; like the slumlord who takes his slice just for allowing you to #HowThisWorks #Mumbai rent
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Boiling milk, freezing ACs: Why are we so callous about resources?
We waste a lot of resources. The long showers we love to take in warm water are a waste of electricity as well as water. The taps we leave open while brushing our teeth or shaving or even when scrubbing the vessels in the kitchen sink also mean wastage of #airconditioner #InMyOpinion #milk
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When women leaders let down women
The charge sheet has been filed, fast-track courts are being set up, promises of stiffer laws and sterner enforcement have been made, and yet the protests against rapes and the authorities’ poor response to it continue, much as rapes continue. This is not an on-going cathartic process involving masses of people, #Capital punishment #J. Jayalalithaa #Mamata Banerjee #Rape #ThatsJustWrong
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The cuppa and the stuff on the trains
Years ago the tea served on the trains were 180 ml in porcelain cups, never mind if they were chipped. Sorry, make it decades ago. Somewhere down the line, the railways stipulated that for Rs 3 per cup, a passenger should get 150 ml of the beverage. If you have travelled #Indian Railways #IRCTC #Railway caterers #ThatsJustWrong
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Mumbai’s Mayor favours donkeys, the officials don’t
Mumbai's Mayor, Sunil Prabhu thinks donkeys are useful. The Solid Waste Management Department of the civic body he heads thinks that they are expensive. If this standoff between the Mayor and the officials were to continue, the piles of debris and silt removed from the Mithi river would remain where they #ConnectTheDots #Donkeys #Mumbai #Sunil Prabhu
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People count: The message from protesters to politicians
There is something to it when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is forced to change the venue of his meeting with the visiting Russian President, Vladimir Putin, from Hyderabad House to his own 7 Race Course Road residence. It means the streets which the agitating women have been saying are unsafe #ConnectTheDots #Delhi Gang Rape