research mumbai news

Climate Change Is Stretching Mumbai to Its Limit

Facing sea-level rise, flooding, and landslides, the city’s residents are finding resilience—because they have little other choice.

R ain had been falling for several hours on the night of July 18, 2021, when the Tiwaris called their relatives and told them to evacuate their house.

The Tiwaris live in suburban Mumbai, in the hillside shantytown of Surya Nagar, and their relatives were perched in one of a row of single-room tenements atop the steep terrain. Some of those homes had collapsed in a landslide two years earlier and had been recently rebuilt. Now, as the rain thundered on, the Tiwaris began to worry.

Suddenly, the slope disintegrated into a torrent of mud and rock, the sound of the slide drowned out by the heavy rain. Before the Tiwaris’ relatives could make it to safety, their ceiling collapsed. Mud and debris washed down to the Tiwaris’ door. They struggled to get out of their own house, and then out of their narrow lane. By the end of the night, 10 people in Surya Nagar, including three children, had been crushed to death. The Tiwaris lost three family members, and 21 more lives were lost in another landslide nearby.

By the end of last year’s monsoon season , an estimated 50 Mumbai residents had died in landslides or wall and house collapses triggered by heavy rain—one of the city’s worst tolls in recent memory.

In the geography of climate risk, some places are more vulnerable than others, and coastal megacities like Mumbai face the combined threat of rising sea levels and extreme weather events. As their populations expand—by 2050, most of the world’s people will live in urban areas—the paving over of permeable soil for houses and roads further increases the risk of flooding.

Like the rest of India, Mumbai is no stranger to what headline writers like to call “monsoon fury.” The city receives an average of about 94 inches of rain annually, more than double New York’s rainfall, and most of it arrives during the four-month rainy season. For years, the city and its residents have met the monsoon with precautionary measures including the clearing of municipal drains and the plastering of leaky roofs.

Those measures have never been quite enough: The season has long been marked by disruptions in train services, upticks in water-borne diseases, and occasional landslides and building collapses. Mumbaikars have tolerated these hazards in exchange for the economic opportunity offered by India’s commercial capital. People here are known for getting back to work quickly after a disaster, whether the disaster is a terrorist strike or a deluge.

But climate change could stretch Mumbai’s fortitude to its limits. Severe flooding used to occur once every few years. Now, intense-rainfall events occur almost every year. As the number of cyclones in the Arabian Sea increases, sea levels rise, and the city continues to sprawl over floodplains and hills—from 1991 to 2018, the city lost 58 percent of its already limited open space—Mumbai is routinely ranked high on lists of the world’s cities most vulnerable to climate impacts.

City authorities, now finalizing a climate action plan, must confront long-standing inadequacies in housing, drainage, and sanitation, and resolve historical tensions between development interests and environmental protection. Working-class communities in hillside areas such as Surya Nagar may have to think about eventual relocation, however difficult. At every level, Mumbai is facing new dangers and new decisions.

L ike many coastal settlements , Mumbai stands on land hewn from water. In the 18th and 19th centuries, British colonists leveled the hills on the small islands of what is now called the Mithi River estuary, using the resulting debris to join the archipelago into a narrow peninsula on the northwest coast of India.

One British official, describing how the original seven islands had been shaken loose from the mainland by tectonic shifts, suggested that the reclamation was fated. “Providence … decreed,” he wrote, “they should be once more united by the genius and energy of man.”

Despite the location’s challenges—malarial swamps, a lack of fresh water, and the need to build bunds and embankments to protect areas at or below sea level—the city became one of the most important ports in the region, a magnet for trade, industry, and labor. “Is it not an astounding feat,” marveled an Indian writer in 1863, “to recover the land from the sea and make it habitable and free of disease and earn lakhs [hundreds of thousands] of rupees in the process?”

During the 20th century, Mumbai expanded to accommodate its growing economy and population. More creeks, streams, and mangroves began to vanish under roads, buildings, and sewage. But every year, the rivers reminded the city of their existence. From June to September, the southwest monsoon sweeps up the west coast of India and into the hinterlands, filling lakes and reconnecting rivers with the sea. For Mumbai, one of the world’s most crowded cities, the season’s cool, clean air and leafy shade is a relief—but it’s also a warning, especially in neighborhoods where the tides once flowed.

The city’s defensive rituals, already well established, have multiplied in recent years. Before the monsoon, people buy umbrellas and plastic footwear. Apartment-building owners and residents repair or waterproof their walls and roofs. During the monsoon, shops in low-lying neighborhoods remove merchandise from the bottom shelves. Commuters brace for traffic or train disruptions and parents look out for school cancellations.

All kinds of improvised measures are on display in Kranti Nagar, a settlement of old and new migrants sandwiched between the airport and a series of metal scrap yards on the banks of the Mithi River. On a weekday in September, the sky is gray and the ground dark from a morning drizzle. Tarpaulins cover Kranti Nagar’s roofs, and clothes are hanging out to dry as best they can. Inside the maze of single- and double-story brick-and-tin tenements, it’s impossible to tell that a river runs nearby. But the residents know.

In a tiny room close to the river, Ranju Devi, a mother of two, reaches up to the light switch just above her head, a little more than five feet from the ground. That’s how high the water can rise, she tells me, when high tides and heavy rain combine and the river swells beyond its banks. Devi and her husband store the family’s clothes and documents on a high shelf so that important possessions don’t get ruined. When the water rises, they take their children and some food to the municipal school, which is located on higher ground nearby. Sometimes, they have to move quickly—one night, she says, she woke up to water at her feet.

The Sonar family, a few twisting lanes away, can afford a double-story tenement. They watch the news for weather alerts and know their escape routine: first switch off their lane’s power mains, then move their belongings and themselves upstairs. On the second floor, they’re protected from electrocution and drowning, but they’re still exposed to the chemicals and sewage in the floodwaters, which cause outbreaks of gastroenteritis, and the malaria and dengue that spread as the water stagnates. But Tulsa Sonar, the family matriarch, doesn’t see a way out of the neighborhood: Kranti Nagar is in the heart of the city, surrounded by schools, hospitals, small factories, and offices. A family of 11, the Sonars would either have to pay three to five times as much to live in more secure housing in the same area or endure long commutes to the city’s schools and jobs. Besides, their local elected representative has promised them a safer home nearby.

The Sonars first moved here from Nepal in search of work in the mid-’70s, when Tulsa was a teenager, and she says there was less flooding then. The problems started when the regional planning agency reclaimed hundreds of acres of mangrove-covered floodplains downstream and covered the newly elevated land with glass-and-steel office complexes. Then airport authorities extended the airport’s runways, narrowing and bending the Mithi River. More settlements and small factories rose along the riverbanks, their sewage and effluent further choking the river’s flow. More recently, the city raised the main road near Kranti Nagar, creating a steep slope to the riverbank settlements.

Some wealthy neighborhoods face flooding too. In a prosperous seaside housing development in the western suburb of Khar, ground-floor residents such as Shalini Balsavar move their clothes and valuables to higher shelves during the monsoon. Balsavar has swapped her wooden furniture for sofas and tables with aluminum legs. Flooding in the area started in the ’80s and ’90s, her daughter Reetha tells me, when settlements and residential buildings replaced mangrove stands along the shore, reducing the capacity of the land to drain water. In the 2000s, the problem was aggravated when the city raised the main road, increasing water flow into the Balsavars’ property. Some ground-floor residents in the area have left, while others hope to add extra floors to their building.

The Balsavars own all three floors of their building, so during a bad flood, Shalini can easily move to safety. “We have an alternative,” says Reetha, who lives on the second floor. “Others are not so lucky.”

That “luck” is becoming more important. Instead of steady rain through the monsoon season, Mumbai now experiences more days of heavy rainfall, defined as more than two and a half inches in 24 hours, interspersed with long dry breaks. Throughout western India, extreme-precipitation events increased threefold from 1950 to 2015 due to an increase in atmospheric moisture from a warming Arabian Sea. Research suggests that the short bursts of extreme rain that trigger flash floods and landslides will continue to increase as temperatures rise. The city itself may amplify these trends: Local scientists have found that clusters of concrete structures generate warmer temperatures and atmospheric instability that could be intensifying monsoon rainfall.

And there are new threats: From 2001 to 2019, rising ocean temperatures led to a 52 percent increase in the region’s cyclone frequency and a 150 percent increase in the number of very severe storms, while cyclone duration increased by 80 percent. Mumbai has not suffered a serious hit from a cyclone since 1948, but a few storms have recently come close.

For reasons scientists don’t fully understand, the monsoon season is also ending later, meaning that city residents must stay vigilant into the fall. “We’ve never been flooded in October,” says Kranti Nagar’s Tulsa Sonar, “but this year, who can tell?”

O n July 26, 2005 , three feet of rain fell on Mumbai, taking more than a thousand lives in flash floods and landslides and causing millions of dollars in damages. In many areas, residents were rescued from rooftops and couldn’t return home for days. Though flooding had been increasing for a decade, the deluge awakened Mumbaikars to the geography of their city—its hemmed-in streams and rivers and its vulnerability to the tides—and the dangers of the monsoon.

Since 2005, civic authorities have spent more and more money on flood-mitigation measures, largely due to prodding from citizens’ groups and judicial orders. In recent years, they’ve begun installing floodgates and pumping stations along parts of the seashore—only six of the city’s 174 stormwater outfalls lie above the high-tide line, so when heavy rain combines with high tide, gates are needed to stop tidal inflow and pumps must physically push rainwater out. Authorities have also set up smaller water pumps along parts of the Mithi River and are experimenting with large underground tanks designed to catch and store water below one of the city’s lowest-lying areas. A long-delayed plan to expand the capacity of the city’s century-old stormwater drains has been revived and updated. And the desilting and unclogging of open drains, streams, and rivers increases every year: By the end of last year’s monsoon, workers planned to remove nearly 220,000 tons of gunk from the Mithi. The city has built retaining walls along some rivers and has improved weather monitoring and disaster-response systems. Now when high tide coincides with heavy rain, evacuation alerts are issued to riverside settlements such as Kranti Nagar.

No one knows the limitations of these measures better than Mahesh Narvekar, the head of the municipality’s disaster-management unit. Set up in 2000, the unit became active after the 2005 floods and has been expanding since. The department now runs a state-of-the-art control room in the municipal headquarters, where staff monitor feeds from 60 automated weather stations; 147 hospitals; 5,000 CCTVs; and social media.

During the monsoon season, staff must coordinate responses to instances such as landslides, housing collapses, tree falls, and power outages. Inside the department’s headquarters, an official shows me old CCTV footage of a tree falling on a moving car; passersby leap into action to rescue the motorist. In another video, a car drifts into a flooded street while bystanders watch to see if they need to intervene. “See how our Mumbaikars respond,” the officer remarks proudly, adding that more people should receive emergency training.

Over the past two decades, the unit has dealt with not only floods and landslides but multiple terrorist strikes and a global pandemic. “Disaster response is okay; we can do it. We have the experience,” Narvekar says. But he’s worried about the future. Though the department is working to communicate more quickly with local residents, expand backup-power supplies, and improve its hazard mapping, that may not be enough to protect residents from possible superstorms, or the roughly six inches of sea-level rise expected by 2050.

Even expanded drains and river dredging can do only so much. “How much can you expand [stormwater] pipes and widen streams in a city that’s so densely developed?” he asks. What’s needed, he believes, is a paradigm shift—a climate-adaptation plan equal to Mumbai’s future. “You can’t stop excess inundation,” he says. “The whole city must become a drain.”

O n August 27 , state environment and tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray, the environment and tourism minister of the state of Maharashtra, launched the Mumbai Climate Action Plan website in coordination with municipal officials, touting it as the first such initiative of its kind in urban India and South Asia. At the launch, the municipal commissioner, Iqbal Singh Chahal, noted that most of July’s rainfall had fallen in just four days and that cyclones in the region were increasing in frequency. He warned, rather hyperbolically, that much of the office and government district, located in the historic southern tip of the city, could be “underwater” by 2050. Climate change “has come to our doorstep,” he said.

The India office of the Washington, D.C.–based World Resources Institute was entrusted with helping design the climate plan, and its first step was to hold a series of public consultations with local groups and experts. Lubaina Rangwala, the program head of the urban-development-and-resilience team at WRI India, told me in September that her objective was to come up with a “high-level road map” rather than a detailed plan. Engineering solutions such as sea walls, pumps, and underground tanks are important, she says. But like Narvekar, the head of the disaster-management unit, she doubts they will suffice in the long run. “Infrastructure is designed for certain thresholds,” she says. “A tank has a capacity; it can hold a certain amount of water until the tide ebbs and the water can drain.” But if rainfall or tides are extreme, that capacity may fall short, she notes. “The uncertainty of extreme occurrences is what makes us believe that [engineering solutions] won’t be enough.”

In recent years, local architects and researchers have pointed out that walls and other barriers can harden the battle lines between land and water, and have argued that the rivers and sea need to be integrated into the urban landscape—by, for instance, maintaining natural riverbanks that can help absorb overflow. “We do need to see the city as an estuary,” Rangwala says. “We need to think about the percolative nature of the land, and about protecting the natural infrastructures of mudflats and wetlands.”

Development interests have long stood in the way of such measures. After the 2005 disaster, for instance, a high-level state-government committee laid out a series of measures for mitigating floods. Although the city implemented engineering solutions such as pumps, drains, and retaining walls, the recommendations that carried even short-term costs for development interests—such as flood-risk zoning around waterways that would affect the real-estate market—were ignored.

Rangwala acknowledges that in a city driven by commerce, systematic reforms are difficult. But she thinks the political moment is ripe for progress, and not only because of the new global attention on climate change. “We used to say environment was anti-development; now we talk of the two in tandem,” she says. “That change has happened with this [state] government coming in.”

Thackeray, the state environment minister, is a scion of one of Mumbai’s most prominent political families. His grandfather founded the Shiv Sena, a nativist party known for decades for its attacks on migrants from the rest of the country. In 2019, the party took power in the state government after a prolonged tussle with the Bharatiya Janata Party, its erstwhile ally and the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Though the Shiv Sena has dominated the city’s government for two decades, its greater power in the state—along with the rise of new, younger leaders—appears to be reshaping its agenda. Thackeray’s father, Uddhav, the head of the state government, enjoys wildlife photography, and his sons are also interested in ecology: Thackeray’s younger brother, Tejas, a wildlife researcher, has discovered several new species—including a swamp eel, a snake, and a lizard—in the state’s lush and underdocumented Western Ghats mountain range.

The younger Thackerays’ interest in the environment is partly generational, says D. Parthasarathy, a sociology professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, an elite research institution. Young people in India and around the world are more concerned about climate change and environmental issues, and 31-year-old Aaditya was one of the few state-level Indian politicians to attend the COP26 talks at Glasgow. But the agenda is also politically strategic: Before they took office, both Aaditya and his father backed a popular residents’ movement to save a piece of suburban forest from an infrastructure project, much to the annoyance of their then-allies. They promised to clean up a massive and polluting landfill in another part of the city that had become a political issue for the local community. “The [state] government came to power on such issues,” Parthasarathy says. “They are under pressure to fulfill their promises too.”

That doesn’t mean they can or will break with business as usual in Mumbai. The Shiv Sena government is not halting one of the city’s most controversial and expensive projects, a 29-kilometer coastal freeway along Mumbai’s western waterfront. The road has been opposed by environmentalists and architects who believe it could lead to coastal erosion and flooding while serving relatively few commuters, and by local fishing communities that say their fishing grounds are being destroyed by extensive reclamation. It’s also not clear how the government will handle recently relaxed national-government regulations that permit more development along the coastline. Political parties need funds, points out Parthasarathy, which makes it risky for them to alienate the city’s wealthy developers. He adds that infrastructure projects have their own political logic: “There’s an imagination to [infrastructure], a sense that it represents modernity.”

M ore than a month after the landslide that killed their relatives, the Tiwaris were still staying with friends in a nearby community. But their neighbors, the Vishwakarmas, had returned home to Surya Nagar, ignoring the warning that the city had pasted on their door. They are a three-generation family of seven. “How long can we stay with friends?” shrugged 29-year-old Sudhir Vishwakarma, the youngest son.

Sudhir and his friends were among the first responders to the landslide; they helped evacuate people and, later, dig out bodies. Ambulances and earth movers couldn’t access the site without destroying homes. The boys didn’t sleep for days, and hardly ate. Since then, every time it rains at night, families in the neighborhood keep their doors open and call out to one another.

Many climate-adaptation projects talk of making cities and communities more “resilient,” more able to cope with or adapt to extreme events like floods and heat waves. But without accompanying efforts to address social vulnerabilities, initiatives to increase resilience can place the burden of adaptation on individuals and on local communities, especially in developing countries, Parthasarathy says.

Mumbaikars’ ability to help one another in times of crisis or bounce back after a disaster is often celebrated by political leaders and the media. But “the spirit of resilience exists out of compulsion,” Parthasarathy says, “because the state is not doing its job. The people must cope somehow.” Resilience also has hidden costs, he adds. Even people who respond stoically to chronic hazards—“water comes and water goes,” as one resident of Kranti Nagar told me—lose time and money in dealing with them, and may sacrifice their health. Interruptions in schooling become more frequent, and saving money becomes more difficult. “People who are busy surviving aren’t able to invest in the future,” Parthasarathy says.

Parthasarathy prefers to use the word transformation . Instead of adapting to and coping with a particular hazard, he says, “we need to reimagine the city and the idea of development.” His research group is working with officials and local groups on a mangrove-restoration project to achieve both environmental and social objectives. Mangroves can mitigate flooding while also providing a livelihood to local fishers, he notes.

For the people of Surya Nagar and Kranti Nagar, transformation might mean moving to safe and affordable housing elsewhere in the city. Because of the lack of affordable options, people who are evicted from hazardous neighborhoods often go and live in even more vulnerable ones, notes Roshni Nuggehalli, the executive director of YUVA, a nonprofit that works with the urban poor. Over the past few decades, the government has tried to incentivize developers to rehabilitate informal dwellings—but many of the resulting housing projects have been poorly constructed or unsanitary. “What we need to address is not the climate event,” Nugehalli says, “but the systemic things that aggravate the climate event.”

A fter the landslide in Surya Nagar , city authorities quickly announced compensation to the families of those who died—several hundred thousand rupees per life, enough to support a poor family for a year or two but of little comfort to the bereaved. One man lost his wife and two children; he survived only because he happened to be working that night. “If there are no people, what’s the point of money?” asks Jaya, Sudhir’s sister-in-law.

When Sudhir’s late father moved here from northern India more than 30 years ago, the neighborhood was set among forested hills and mangrove stands and surrounded by new factories with jobs for migrant workers. He built a good life for his wife and children, and Sudhir, now an engineer, is one of the first professionals in the family. But he still can’t afford to live in the upscale residential complexes that now crowd the neighborhood.

Sudhir and his neighbors don’t know much about climate change, but they do sense that their home is becoming more dangerous. Many point out that though the 2017 landslide took two lives, last summer’s took 10. (Local officials and politicians likely knew of the danger: In early 2021, an internal report warned of the risk to precariously perched settlements in the area.) Yet most are not ready to leave the neighborhood. Nearby homes down the slope or on level ground are more expensive, and the pandemic’s toll on income and work has put them even further out of reach. Cheaper digs are distant. What they want is for the municipality to protect Surya Nagar with a strong retaining wall. And they seem likely to get it: After the landslide, Aaditya Thackeray directed authorities to speed up retaining-wall construction in unstable areas.

Yet a wall did not help Ambedkar Nagar, a much poorer settlement on the other side of the hill. Its shanties stand above a network of apartment complexes, and just below a water reservoir surrounded by forest. In the 2010s, authorities built a 15-foot-high boundary wall to protect the reservoir from urban expansion. But on one extremely rainy night in 2019, water built up behind the barrier and then broke through. The torrent, carrying chunks of concrete, swept away the bamboo and tarpaulin shanties below, killing about 30 people and injuring another 130. Later, an audit commissioned by the city found that the wall had been poorly designed and constructed. Eighty-six families who had lost homes and relatives were rehoused in low-income developments on the other side of the city; 75 more are still waiting to be relocated.

A few residents have refused to move, including Bomba Devi, a mother of three. When she came to Ambedkar Nagar in the mid-’90s, it was not unusual for leopards from the nearby forest to prowl the hillside. Though she lost a young granddaughter in the flash flood of 2019, she rejected the alternative housing because it was located next to chemical plants and a refinery, and residents there had already fallen ill. (Residents’ health problems were so serious that they sued, resulting in a court decision that blocked the city from relocating people to the area.) Besides, her son works in the local packing firm and her grandchildren go to the nearby public school. To protect her home, she and her children have created small channels and drains in the mud floor that direct the water downstream. Even so, their home is flooded with a foot of water every year.

In May, a cyclone brought record rain and winds strong enough to dislodge some boulders above the neighborhood. The residents took refuge in a clearing of sorts—a slightly elevated, flat patch of land kept dry with a thatched roof and strategically dug channels. It was safer than being inside their homes, says Moli Sheikh, Bomba Devi’s neighbor, adding, “We draw strength from being together.”

The morning I visited, more than a dozen residents were sitting in the clearing, participating in an ongoing sit-in. They are demanding that the wall be rebuilt and alternative housing be provided nearby. Many of them had paid into a public-housing scheme intended to provide them with new homes, but so far they have received nothing. “Every time there’s an incident, they come and do a survey” of the damage done and the families that need to be relocated, Sheikh says, pointing to the row of numbers that officials have chalked on his door. “What are they waiting for?”

This Atlantic Planet story was supported by the HHMI Department of Science Education.

Articles on Mumbai

Displaying all articles.

Facing the dual threat of climate change and human disturbance, Mumbai – and the world – should listen to its fishing communities

Lyla Mehta , Institute of Development Studies ; D Parthasarathy , Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , and Shibaji Bose , National Institute of Technology Durgapur

How Mumbai’s poorest neighbourhood is battling to keep coronavirus at bay

Ishita Chatterjee , The University of Melbourne

1918 flu pandemic killed 12 million Indians, and British overlords’ indifference strengthened the anti-colonial movement

Maura Chhun , Metropolitan State University

Terrorism at the Taj: ‘Hotel Mumbai’ pulls no punches

Joseph McQuade , University of Toronto and Emily LeDuc , Queen's University, Ontario

Indian women confined to the home, in cities designed for men

Rahul Goel , University of Cambridge

Leopards in a city park in India may help lower human injuries and deaths from stray dog bites

Christopher J. O'Bryan , The University of Queensland and Alexander Richard Braczkowski , The University of Queensland

Mumbai floods: what happens when cities sacrifice ecology for development

Harini Nagendra , Azim Premji University

Related Topics

• Global perspectives
• Health disparities
• Terror attacks
• The Western Front

Top contributors

SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for South Asian Studies, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

Professor of Sustainability, Azim Premji University

Doctoral Candidate and Teaching Fellow, Queen's University, Ontario

Research Fellow at the Centre for Planetary Health and Resilient Conservation Group, Griffith University

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland

Assistant Professor at Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre, The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Professor of Sociology, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Community Faculty, Metropolitan State University

PhD Candidate, Informal Urbanism (InfUr-) Hub, The University of Melbourne

Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies

PhD Student in Community Voices, National Institute of Technology Durgapur

• X (Twitter)
• Unfollow topic Follow topic

Subscribe or renew today

Every print subscription comes with full digital access

Science News

As waters rise, coastal megacities like mumbai face catastrophe.

Neglecting to prepare defenses against flooding from rising seas, storm surges or torrential rains risks social and economic chaos

COASTAL IMPACT   A woman poses for a photograph as a wave at high tide crashes over Mumbai’s seaside promenade in July during a pause in the seasonal monsoon rains.

Janak Rathod

Share this:

By Katy Daigle and Maanvi Singh

August 15, 2018 at 9:30 am

Each year when the monsoon rain sheets down and the tides swell over coastal Mumbai, Saif shutters his soda shop on Juhu Beach and takes shelter up in the rafters. Still, the water invades through the roof and over the concrete floors, sometimes reaching as high as the freezers full of ice cream.

For 36-year-old Saif, the coastal megacity’s chronic flooding is stressful. “What would happen if too much water comes?” asks Saif, who, like many in India, goes by one name. “I could get swept up with it.” Last year’s torrential floods killed at least 14 people in Mumbai. And in July 2005, when a meter of rain fell in a single day, flooding cost the city about $1.7 billion in damages.

Rebuilding his uninsured shop after the 2005 floods cost Saif about $57,000. He was lucky. When those floodwaters receded after two days, more than 1,000 people had died from drowning, landslides or other flood-related accidents in Mumbai and surrounding areas. “What can we do?” Saif asks. “Who can win against nature?”

Such questions are becoming more urgent in coastal cities at mounting risk of climate-driven flooding. Climate change is raising sea levels, while also making storms more severe and bringing heavier rains to some places. For densely populated cities like Mumbai — the financial heart of India, which is the world’s fastest-growing major economy — those risks threaten to throw personal incomes and national economies into chaos.

“The challenge is getting people to prepare for a risk they can’t yet see,” says Stéphane Hallegatte, lead economist at the World Bank’s Global Facility or Disaster Reduction and Recovery in Washington, D.C. “A very tiny change in sea level can have an enormous impact on risk levels,” he adds.

By 2005, coastal city flooding cost the world an average of $6 billion a year, according to calculations by Hallegatte and colleagues. Even if humankind manages to limit the release of carbon dioxide enough to keep global warming to an average 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — which is highly unlikely — seas will still rise by a global average of about 20 centimeters by 2050, if not more. That’s enough to more than double the frequency of flooding in the tropics , where Mumbai is located, according to a 2017 paper in Scientific Reports.

Global losses from coastal flooding may surpass $1 trillion annually by 2050 unless coastal cities prepare, Hallegatte’s team says. That projection is actually conservative, because it doesn’t include damage from other climate-related flood risks such as heavier rains and stronger storms ( SN: 6/27/15, p. 9 ). Last year, Hurricane Harvey’s extreme rainfall, probably fueled by climate change, caused $125 billion in flood losses in Houston ( SN: 1/20/18, p. 6 ). And in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Hurricane Maria caused $90 billion in damages, mostly from winds.

If cities invest enough to just hold steady at their current level of flood risk, future losses would drop drastically, to about $60 billion per year, Hallegatte says. Mumbai’s share would be about $6.4 billion — making it the second-most economically vulnerable city after China’s Guangzhou.

Many of Asia’s fast-growing coastal megacities, with populations of 10 million or more, are vulnerable to multiple flood threats. Mumbai, the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and Manila in the Philippines, among others, face a future of heavier rainfall and higher storm surges. Manila and others, like Indonesia’s Jakarta, are also sinking fast. Some spots in Jakarta are sinking at a rate of 20 to 28 centimeters a year.

“For an individual, it doesn’t matter if the water is coming from sea rise or a storm surge or the clouds, a flood is a flood,” Hallegatte says. “Cities should be looking … at one-meter sea level rise, at least. Because the cost of failure is so big, you need to have a plan for the worst-case scenario.”

Mumbai and other fast-growing coastal megacities in Asia are particularly vulnerable to climate-related flooding. Twenty-one of the world’s 31 megacities hug a coastline, 13 of which are in Asia. These cities of 10 million or more often drive their national economies and are home to both rich and poor. As the world’s population balloons, two more Asian coastal cities will be pushed into the mega zone by 2030: Bangkok and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, according to United Nations estimates. In addition to flooding, these megalopolises could face water supply disruptions, dangerous heat waves ( SN: 4/14/18, p. 18 ), increased food insecurity and more disease outbreaks.

An ambiguous picture

On a Sunday evening in June, the promenade along Mumbai’s iconic Marine Drive is packed. Families stroll eating ice cream, children chase street vendors peddling cotton candy, and friends squeeze together for selfies framed against the blue-gray waters of the Arabian Sea. Dark, roiling monsoon clouds loom over the horizon, as waves crash a meter away against the concrete barricade.

The promenade was built a century ago when India was part of the colonial British Empire. The walkway’s days may be numbered. Mumbai’s coastal waters rose at least nine centimeters during the 20th century, according to tide gauge data. Today, seawater regularly spills over the promenade during high tide.

It’s not clear how much farther seas will rise around Mumbai. A variety of factors, including tides, gravity and Earth’s rotation, influence local area sea rise in complex ways. And a lack of detailed data on Mumbai’s coastal geography available to scientists leaves questions on how future local water levels will affect specific areas of the city.

The state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, acknowledged this data deficit in its 2014 climate change plan . Nevertheless, the state has so far ignored a 2017 Indian Supreme Court order to release maps demarcating future flood lines.

Maharashtra’s environment secretary, Anil Diggikar, told Science News that the mapping is being done, though he did not say when the maps might be made public. But the state does recommend that rainfall and sea level trends be considered in new construction projects and public infrastructure. “This is especially important for [the] economic hub of Mumbai and surrounding districts,” he says, while also touting plans for restoring coastal stands of protective mangrove trees.

Marine scientist Mani Murali of the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa, India, has tried to work out Mumbai’s future flood risk using low-resolution 2011 topographic data from NASA. That work, under peer review, doesn’t tell the detailed story he knows the city needs. “But I thought something is better than nothing.”

He may have a point, with the rate of global sea rise fast accelerating — from a yearly average of 1.8 millimeters in the last century to about 3.0 millimeters per year today , according to a report in the Feb. 27 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sea rise scenarios

Global sea level rise could be kept to a lower projection range (blue) if humankind curbs greenhouse gas emissions. Today, the world is on track for a much higher level of rise (tan). 

Source: IPCC 2014

And while global sea level projections up to 2050 are considered reliable, the situation beyond midcentury is less clear. Much depends on whether humankind can limit global emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping atmospheric gases. Princeton University climatologist Michael Oppenheimer is not optimistic.

“This is a battle that we are currently losing,” says Oppenheimer, a coordinating lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s special report on oceans, cryosphere and climate change, due out in September 2019. “Sea level rise and the flood heights are only going to increase …for the foreseeable future.”

The annual monsoon, the seasonal shift in winds that brings flooding rains to Mumbai, adds an extra layer of uncertainty to projecting how much flooding will accompany sea rise, he says. The future of this South Asian weather system has been difficult to predict, thanks in part to the mysterious influence of the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool. It’s Earth’s largest region of warm surface seawaters spanning the midocean region between the western Pacific and the eastern Indian oceans. That warmth partly fuels monsoon storm clouds.

Still, most studies suggest that the monsoon rains will increase. “Uncertainty is not an excuse [for inaction] at this point,” Oppenheimer says. “People need to get moving.”

Land where it shouldn’t be

Lakshmi Murali lives with her husband and son in a quiet, gated community, lush with jackfruit trees and flowering hibiscus in Mumbai’s flood-prone neighborhood of Andheri. Every June, as the rain starts falling, she unplugs the electronics in their ground floor apartment and moves her silk saris out from under the bed.

Across the city, the rains rage against the glass windows of luxury high-rises. Public transportation and street commerce come to a halt. Water pounds the tin roofs of slum shanties where about half of Mumbai’s 21.4 million people live. A sewage-tainted slurry burbles out of the city’s outdated and often-clogged drainage system, backing up into rivers and creeks that then overflow into homes and businesses.

Last year was particularly bad: In 24 hours, about 33 centimeters of rain fell. “You had to see it to believe it,” says Murali, a 54-year-old lawyer who is not related to the marine researcher of the same name. Her building’s plumbing system failed, and the toilets overflowed. Residents turned off their power for fear of getting electrocuted. As water rose inside their homes, Murali and a few neighbors used an iron rod to smash a hole through the wall surrounding their backyard to let the water flow out.

“Today, we are young, and we say, ‘Yeah, it’s OK,’ ” Murali says. Even as such flooding worsens, she has what some might call misplaced faith that things will work out. “The state will work on building enough infrastructure to keep the city alive and will not allow the city to drown. Man will work against what nature is proposing to do.”

Mumbai’s current predicament is partly due to the power of engineering over nature. Large parts of the city are built on land that, 300 years ago, was mostly underwater. When the Portuguese settled the region in the 16th century, they maintained Mumbai as a sleepy collection of coastal islands. But the British, who took over in 1661, reimagined Mumbai as a contiguous landmass and created a peninsula by filling in land gaps to connect the islands even in the wet season.

British engineering

Much of Mumbai is built atop landfill (black) that connects several islands (green) in the middle of Bombay Harbor. Those passages once allowed water to flow through the system at high tide and during monsoon rains. 

Source: T. Riding/ J. Hist. Geography 2018

“So many of these megacities are built on land that is only artificially higher than sea level, in places where landfilling took place,” says Washington D.C.–based Susmita Dasgupta, the lead environmental economist for the World Bank’s Development Research Group.

Dasgupta was involved in the World Bank’s first report in 2007 on how sea level rise might affect national economies . The aim was to trigger discussion and preparation for a possible future economic catastrophe. She and her team offered guarded impact estimates based on hypothetical scenarios of between one and five meters of global sea level rise, using satellite images of coastal outlines and local elevations.

In estimating potential economic losses, the team considered an affected area’s population multiplied by the country’s gross domestic product per capita, but not infrastructure or property assets. That report projected that one meter of sea rise would cost the world 1.3 percent of the global economy. Applied to the forecast global GDP for 2018, that comes to about $1.3 trillion, not far from the estimates by Hallegatte’s team.

“But we wanted to raise the issue,” Dasgupta says. She faced a wave of hostility and derision for the effort. “Even bank colleagues were unhappy about it, saying we were being alarmist and that this kind of research was premature.” Eleven years later, no one doubts the sea is rising.

Juggling the numbers

Amid the confusing tumble of scientific studies on how climate change might raise flood risks, some scientists have built online visual apps to help the public understand what’s at stake.

One tool, by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows past global sea level trends based on tide gauges. But the app does not give projections. And it relies on sometimes patchy data. For example, there are no readings for Mumbai’s water levels from 1994 to 2005 or after 2010. The Maharashtra government says local sea levels are rising 1.2 millimeters a year, based on those incomplete data.

In 2017, a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, launched an app to demonstrate how melting ice sheets would affect 293 major port cities across the globe. The scientists measured the melt using NASA’s GRACE satellites, which detect gravity changes from the ice loss. To boost accuracy, the team recently added a component to the app that accounts for the fact that water expands as it warms.

Still, true sea level rise projections involve complex computer modeling of overlapping systems. The JPL app doesn’t do that. “So it’s risky” to put too much stock in the numbers it spits out, says JPL sea level and ice supervisor Eric Larour. “But the real risk is that people underestimate that this is going to get worse.”

For Mumbai, the JPL app foresees at least another 2.9-centimeter rise in coastal water in 10 years — and 14.4 centimeters in the next 50 years.

Those estimates could soon be revised upward. Larour’s team plans one more update to include research published in the June 13 Nature showing that Antarctic ice sheets are melting three times as fast as they were 25 years ago ( SN: 6/7/18, p. 6 ). That much melting, Larour says, is “a big, big deal.”

The JPL team hopes to have a single, detailed modeling app for the world within two years, using NASA’s high-resolution satellite images of water levels and of land gradients, “so that people can use it in active mitigation policy,” Larour says. “A lot of areas at risk in South Asia — India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka — and across Asia don’t have the information to do this.”

Economic gains lost

It’s not easy to find a coastal megacity taking decisive and effective action against future flood risks. Bangladesh has long built coastal sea walls of stacked mud, which may help prevent ocean storm surges from cascading inland to Dhaka. Fast-sinking Jakarta is working on its own giant sea wall as well. But walls won’t help Mumbai; they would prevent rain-driven freshwater floods from draining out after the monsoon.

Massive structural engineering is not the answer. Many scientists suggest that cities lighten their burden on the land by maintaining natural coastlines, protecting sand dunes and preserving forests or even growing more of them. At the least, cities should refrain from making development decisions that will make things worse, such as paving over water-absorbent soils or building on natural floodplains. Governments can also improve storm drains, offer voluntary relocation packages or even consider introducing ferries rather than trying to raise or maintain existing roads.

“We need to evolve to a situation where we’re more congruent with nature, rather than fighting it,” says urban planning expert Amrita Daniere of the University of Toronto, codirector of the Urban Climate Resilience in South East Asia Partnership. The group is aiding flood-preparation efforts in so-called second-tier cities, each still home to millions of people. “It’s too difficult to influence policy and practice in a megacity,” she says.

There are cities like Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, that may be just too vulnerable. Built atop an estuary feeding into the Gulf of Thailand, the city — also sinking — is on track to go mega by 2030. “It wouldn’t shock me if they had to move the capital in 20 years,” Daniere says.

Cities that don’t own up to their vulnerability risk squandering economic gains made in the last few decades, economists say. Some cities could face a financial reckoning even before flooding worsens. The mere notion of increasing risk is enough to spook investors.

“That could have a domino effect on other cities, with bigger consequences for the global financial system,” says Gregory Unruh, an expert in sustainable business strategy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Yet modeling economic consequences is daunting, he says. These trends “tend to be based more on perceptions, on understanding bubbles and behavioral economics.”

Pressure is mounting for cities to disclose climate risks. Credit rating agencies including Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have begun including climate change impacts in their assessments. Last year, the Financial Stability Board of the Group of Twenty international forum urged insurers, banks and institutional investors to release climate-related financial risk disclosures.

Still, “there’s not much happening,” says Richard Hewston, a climate change analyst at Verisk Maplecroft in Bath, England, which advises on the risks of doing business around the world. “Sea rise is a gradual threat,” even though it can worsen events like tropical cyclones, Hewston says. So it’s difficult for people to use sea level rise as a reason to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure to prevent disaster.

Mumbai’s flood risk makes the city a “high risk” place for climate change vulnerability — the second-most worrying category after “extreme risk,” according to Verisk Maplecroft’s 2018 hazard index. Among the world’s 31 megacities, Mumbai ranks as the ninth riskiest, based on about 50 factors ranging from preparedness to exposure to climate shocks like heat waves, drought, hurricanes and flooding. Mumbai’s high population density, high poverty rates and poor sewage and drainage systems “heighten the risk posed by climate-related events like flooding,” the company says.

Verisk Maplecroft suggests that Mumbai build better sewage and drainage capacity, halt building on landfill and restore coastal mangrove trees, which keep the land intact with their tangle of roots and act as a natural buffer against the Arabian Sea.

There is little evidence that any of that, beyond mangrove restoration, is being done. Drainage system upgrades have been stalled for years. Limits on building on floodplains are routinely ignored. Mumbai-based environmental economist Archana Patankar worries that these are signs of official neglect.

Mumbai “is an extremely important city in terms of the economic wealth it generates,” says Patankar. The city’s economy rivals that of some developed nations in Europe. Its stock exchange is valued at around $2.2 trillion — almost twice the entire GDP of Mexico or Australia. Its Hindi-language Bollywood entertainment industry generates billions of dollars in global revenues each year. Not enough work has been done to assess how the city’s economy will be impacted, she says.

Why sea level rise varies from place to place

Read more about how the impact of global sea level rise varies regionally.

Instead, Mumbai appears focused on further developing its fragile coastline. The government is barreling ahead with plans for a 29-kilometer coastal highway, which will require ripping out patches of protective mangrove trees. Construction cranes punctuate the shoreline as new high-rises go up every year.

Property developers are aware of sea level rise, but they’re in the business to sell. “No developer in Mumbai does any kind of risk analysis on how sea level and climate change is going to factor into their risks,” says Rohitashwa Poddar, managing director of local developer Poddar Housing and Development. Though his company aims to build future-proof homes by placing them on stilts or surrounding them with water-absorbing gardens, few of Poddar’s customers ask about flood risk.

“People should know if they’re buying property in high-risk areas,” adds Stalin Dayanand, director of Vanashakti, the local environmental group that argued in the Indian Supreme Court for the release of the state’s forecast maps showing “hazard lines” for where the coast might be located in 100 years.

The state missed the Supreme Court’s April deadline. Meanwhile, authorities moved ahead with plans for a $409 million memorial statue of the 17th century Indian ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji to be built on landfill in the middle of Mumbai’s bay. If projections are even close to correct, that 200-meter-tall statue could be left towering over a city swamped within decades.

More Stories from Science News on Climate

Polar forests may have just solved a solar storm mystery

Heat waves cause more illness and death in U.S. cities with fewer trees

‘On the Move’ examines how climate change will alter where people live

Climate change is changing how we keep time

Waterlogged soils can give hurricanes new life after they arrive on land

Cold, dry snaps accompanied three plagues that struck the Roman Empire

Many but not all of the world’s aquifers are losing water

Numbats are built to hold heat, making climate change extra risky for the marsupials

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.

Not a subscriber? Become one now .

• SPEAKING TREE
• ENTERTAINMENT
• LIFE & STYLE
• HOW TO WATCH IPL

Tata Institute doctors claim new drug prevents cancer recurrence

Doctors at tata institute in mumbai have developed a tablet that claims to prevent cancer recurrence. this innovative tablet will be available at rs 100 once approved by the fssai..

Listen to Story

• Researchers have developed a tablet that could prevent cancer from occurring again
• The tablet, once approved by the FSSAI, will be available at Rs 100
• The tablet could be effective against cancers in the pancreas, lungs and oral regions

Doctors and researchers at Tata Institute in Mumbai have developed a treatment, claiming that it could prevent cancer from occurring again.

This innovative tablet, which results from extensive research and testing over a decade, is believed to not only prevent cancer recurrence but also reduce side effects associated with treatments like radiation and chemotherapy by 50% . The results are from trials conducted on mice, which share a significant portion of their genes with humans.

Dr Rajendra Badve, a senior cancer surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital and part of the research group, explained the process behind the discovery.

"Human cancer cells were inserted in rats for the research, which formed a tumour in them. The rats were then treated with radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery. It was found that when these cancer cells die , they break into tiny pieces called chromatin particles. These particles can travel to other parts of the body through the bloodstream and when they enter healthy cells, they can turn them cancerous," Dr Badve told NDTV.

In response to this problem, the researchers administered pro-oxidant tablets containing resveratrol and copper (R+Cu) to the rats. The R+Cu tablets generate oxygen radicals, effectively destroying chromatin particles.

When taken orally, these tablets release oxygen radicals in the stomach, quickly entering the bloodstream. This process prevents the release of cell-free chromatin particles in circulation and inhibits the movement of cancer cells, a process called metastases .

The researchers also claim that R+Cu tablets mitigate the toxicity associated with chemotherapy.

This discovery, referred to as the "Magic of R+Cu," is expected to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment therapy by approximately 50% and demonstrate 30% efficacy in preventing cancer recurrence.

The tablet is anticipated to be effective against cancers affecting the pancreas, lungs, and oral regions .

The doctors are currently awaiting the approval of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Once approved, the tablet is expected to be available in the market by June-July.

If the tablet gets approved, its cost will be quite less, Dr Badve said. He added that "compared to the lakhs and crores spent on the development, the tablet could be less than Rs 100."

While the tablet's impact on side effects has been tested on both rats and humans, prevention tests have been conducted only on rats.

Human trials are expected to take not less than five years to complete. "There were challenges during the research, many felt it was a waste of time and money. But today, everyone is happy and excited. It is a big success," he said. Published By: Daphne Clarance Published On: Feb 28, 2024 ALSO READ | 'Don't fall for influencers': Tata Memorial doctor's advice to Zerodha founder

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Punjab Kings run out of steam as Mumbai Indians win by 9 runs

Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah , right, and Mumbai Indians’ Tilak Varma celebrates the dismissal of Punjab Kings’ Shashank Singh during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings’ and Mumbai Indians’ in Mullanpur ,India, Thursday, April 18, 2024.(AP Photo/ Surjeet Yadav))

Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah bowls a delivery during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings’ and Mumbai Indians’ in Mullanpur ,India, Thursday, April 18, 2024.(AP Photo/ Surjeet Yadav))

Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah , third from right, celebrates the dismissal of Punjab Kings’ Sam Curran, left, during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings’ and Mumbai Indians’ in Mullanpur ,India, Thursday, April 18, 2024.(AP Photo/ Surjeet Yadav))

Mumbai Indians’ Gerald Coetzee celebrates the dismissal of Punjab Kings’ Liam Livingstone during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings’ and Mumbai Indians’ in Mullanpur ,India, Thursday, April 18, 2024.(AP Photo/ Surjeet Yadav))

Mumbai Indians’ Gerald Coetzee takes the catch to dismiss Punjab Kings’ Liam Livingstone during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings’ and Mumbai Indians’ in Mullanpur ,India, Thursday, April 18, 2024.(AP Photo/ Surjeet Yadav))

Punjab Kings’ Ashutosh Sharma plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Punjab Kings’ and Mumbai Indians’ in Mullanpur ,India, Thursday, April 18, 2024.(AP Photo/ Surjeet Yadav))

• Copy Link copied

CHANDIGARH, India (AP) — Batter Ashutosh Sharma produced a brilliant rearguard knock but Punjab Kings still ran out of steam and lost to Mumbai Indians by nine runs in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.

Sharma scored 61 runs off 28 balls, including seven sixes, as he helped Punjab recover from 77-6 to mount a serious challenge before the hosts fell short.

Pacers Gerald Coetzee and Jasprit Bumrah bowled Mumbai to victory, sharing six wickets in eight overs.

Suryakumar Yadav had earlier scored 78 off 53 balls to help Mumbai post 192-7 (20 overs). Punjab managed 183 in 19.1 overs, nevertheless a remarkable recovery from 49-5 at one stage.

Put into bat, Mumbai lost Ishan Kishan (8) early while his opening partner Rohit Sharma scored 36 off 25 balls.

Sharma hit three sixes as he paved the way for Yadav, who hit seven fours and three sixes in his second half-century of the season.

The duo added 81 runs off 57 balls, with Sharma out caught off stand-in skipper Sam Curran in the 12th over.

Tilak Varma contributed 34 off 18 balls, adding another 49 off 28 balls with Yadav who took center-stage with 50 off 34 balls.

It was a chance-less knock from Yadav, who fell in the 17th over, out caught off Curran (2-41).

Mumbai lost a bit of steam thereafter, as Hardik Pandya (10) and Tim David (14) failed to accelerate enough to push the score past 200.

Harshal Patel finished with 3-31, picking all three wickets including Romario Shepherd (1) in the final over.

In reply, Punjab Kings were off to a disastrous start as they had no response to the Mumbai pacers.

Prabhsimran Singh was caught behind for a first-ball duck off Coetzee and then Bumrah bowled Rilee Rossouw for another golden duck with a searing yorker.

Curran (6), who had opened the innings, was caught behind off Bumrah two balls later in the second over.

It became 14-4 in 2.1 overs as Liam Livingstone mistimed a pull off Coetzee and was out caught for one.

Impact player Harpreet Singh scored 13 runs but the damage was nearly irreparable.

Shashank Singh though went about this task, scoring 41 off 25 balls, including three sixes. His counter attacking knock breathed new life into Punjab’s late order, especially Sharma who took over the mantle once Bumrah dismissed Singh in the 13th over.

The duo had added 34 off 17 balls to rescue Punjab from 77-6 in 9.2 overs. Sharma scored 50 off only 23 balls and his knock included six sixes.

He was particularly severe on pacer Akash Madhwal, smacking him for four out of his seven sixes.

Coetzee finally got the breakthrough in the 18th over, as Sharma was out caught in the deep. But Mumbai was penalized for a slow over rate, meaning there were only four fielders allowed outside the 30-yard-circle for the final two overs.

Punjab needed 23 runs off the final 12 balls, took 11 off the penultimate over, but ultimately ran out of steam — and wickets.

Mumbai moved up to seventh. The Kings are ninth in the points table.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

• International
• Today’s Paper
• Premium Stories
• Express Shorts
• UP Board Results
• Health & Wellness
• Board Exam Results

Mumbai News Highlights: Bombay HC seeks response from Speaker Rahul Narwekar, MLAs from Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction

Maratha quota news highlights: speaker narwekar had rejected the petitions seeking to disqualify the mlas of the sharad pawar ncp faction..

Maratha Reservation News Highlights: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and MLAs from the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in a plea by the Ajit Pawar-led faction over disqualifying the rival faction MLAs. Narwekar had rejected the petitions seeking to disqualify the MLAs of the Sharad Pawar NCP faction. The high court asked the respondents to file affidavits in reply, if any, on or before March 11 and posted further hearing to March 14.

Days after former Mumbai Congress leader Baba Siddique quit the party to join ruling NCP led by Ajit Pawar , his son and Bandra East MLA Zeeshan Siddique has been removed from the post of Mumbai youth Congress chief. Akhilesh Yadav will be the new Mumbai youth Congress chief.

Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil continued to remain firm on his demand for reservation for his community under OBC category after Maharashtra government unanimously passed a bill granting 10 percent reservation on Tuesday. While the Opposition criticised whether the bill would stand the test of law, Patil said he would meet community members on Wednesday and decide the future course of agitation.

Mumbai News Highlights: HC seeks response from Speaker, Sharad Pawar-led NCP MLAs  | Follow this space for the latest updates live from in and around Mumbai!

Lok sabha polls will be dynastic politics and corruption versus development fight: nadda.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda said the ensuing Lok Sabha elections will be a battle between dynastic politics and corruption on one side and development on the other.

Addressing party workers from Mumbai's western suburbs during his visit to the metropolis, Nadda said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, India is well on its way to become the third largest economy in the world from fifth now.

Attacking anti-BJP opposition parties, he alleged that they were either dynastic or steeped in corruption. "You have to reach out to voters and seek their support for a fresh mandate (for BJP at the Centre). First-time voters in the last ten years have seen only development and not corruption like previous governments," asserted the BJP president, referring to the decade-long rule of the Modi administration that started in 2014.

He said the Lok Sabha elections, likely to be held in April-May, will be a fight between dynastic politics and corruption on one side and development on the other.

'Bal gram panchayat' formed to raise issues concerning children

A non-government organisation in Maharashtra's Thane has launched an initiative under which it has formed a 'gram panchayat' of children at a village in the district to raise issues being faced by the local kids.

Samatol Foundation, in collaboration with local authorities, has set up a 'Bal Gram Panchayat' comprising children at Mamanoli village in Murbad taluka of the district.

This bal gram panchayat having a child sarpanch, deputy sarpanch, talathi, among others work closely with the village panchayat and child safety committee to address the issues and challenges faced by children, founder and secretary of Samatol Foundation, Vijay Jadhav, told PTI .

Implement draft notification on Kunbi Marathas or face protests from Feb 24: Jarange-Patil

Activist Manoj Jarange-Patil said the Maharashtra government should implement the draft notification on “blood relatives” of Kunbi Marathas within two days, failing which the community members would stage non-violent road blockades across the state from February 24.

Speaking at a meet of the Maratha community members at Antarwali sarti village in Jalna district, where he has been on a hunger strike since February 10, Jarange-Patil insisted on peaceful demonstrations and not resorting to violence during the protests.

Read the full story here

'Unfortuante I haven't received official intimation from party': Zeeshan Siddique

Zeeshan Siddique in reponse to being outsed from the post of Mumbai youth Cogress chief wrote on X, "88,517 mumbai youth congress members voted for me to become the president of mumbai youth congress which has been the highest number in the history of mumbai youth congress. This isn’t a nominated post I have got from lobbying or being a yes man to leaders, I have been ELECTED with the highest margin in the election process. After giving 12 years to the organisation having fought three elections it is unfortunate that I have not received any official intimation from the party and I have to learn about my ousting from media and social media. I am answerable to 88,517 who voted for me and I will be addressing a press conference about this very soon!"

88,517 mumbai youth congress members voted for me to become the president of mumbai youth congress which has been the highest number in the history of mumbai youth congress. This isn’t a nominated post I have got from lobbying or being a yes man to leaders, I have been ELECTED… — Zeeshan Siddique (@zeeshan_iyc) February 21, 2024

Manoj Jarange Patil continues hunger strike | Watch video

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil continues his hunger strike demanding reservation for the community within OBC quota.

#WATCH | Jalna, Maharashtra: Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil continues his hunger strike demanding implementation of 'Sage Soyare' Maratha Reservation Bill for reservation in education and jobs was passed by the Maharashtra Assembly and Legislative Council… pic.twitter.com/ydv3s4iA69 — ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2024

Differences among INDIA bloc allies in couple of states, will be resolved: Sharad Pawar

Rajya Sabha member Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said there are differences among some of the opposition INDIA bloc parties in a couple of states over issues including seat-sharing which senior leaders from other states would try to resolve.

Speaking to reporters in Kolhapur, the senior politician said a meeting of the INDIA alliance, formed by several opposition parties to take on the ruling BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, has not been convened of late. A decision was taken earlier that all the parties of the opposition bloc will work together, he said.

"But majority of the parties in the alliance are limited to their states, so it was decided that all these parties will sit with other allied parties in their respective states and that process is going on," Pawar said. He noted there are differences among some the opposition alliance parties in a couple of states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

"In Uttar Pradesh, there is an absence of a common understanding over the seat-sharing formula. The other state is West Bengal, where there are some more problems, and the reason is that some parties such as the TMC, CPI(M) and Congress are traditionally opposed to each other," he said. Such issues have not been handled so far, the NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar party chief said.

"Our strategy is that wherever it is possible, we are addressing the issues, and wherever there are differences, like the states I have mentioned, senior leaders, especially from outside that state, sit and address these issues and that process will start soon," he said.

Bombay HC seeks response in Ajit Pawar-led NCP's plea against Speaker's decision not to disqualify Sharad Pawar-led MLAs

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Speaker MLAs from the rival faction, in a plea by Ajit Pawar-led NCP challenging the verdict of the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar that rejected petitions seeking to disqualify MLAs of the rival Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction. The Court asked the respondents to file affidavits in reply, if any, on or before March 11 and posted further hearing to March 14.

Zeeshan Siddique removed as Mumbai youth Congress chief

Days after former Mumbai Congress leader Baba Siddique quit the party to join ruling NCP led by Ajit Pawar, his son and Bandra East MLA Zeeshan Siddique has been removed from the post of Mumbai youth Congress chief. Akhilesh Yadav will be the new Mumbai youth Congress chief.

Backdoor entry of Marathas within OBC category cannot be ruled out: OBC leader Prakash Shendge

OBC Bahujan Mahasangh leader Prakash Shendge raises doubts over  Maratha reservation   withstanding legal test. In an interview to Shubhangi Khapre, he says backdoor entry of Marathas within OBC category cannot be ruled out

Q) What is your response to government’s decision to give 10 per cent reservation to Marathas?

A) We have no objection to Marathas getting 10 per cent separate reservation. But the question is: Will this reservation withstand legal test? We have doubts. In 2018, the  Devendra Fadnavis -led government had given reservation to Marathas and it was scrapped by the Supreme Court. So, how is this reservation different?

Q) The CM has assured that all lacuna are addressed and it will be long-lasting?

A) If the state government is serious, they will have to ensure that the Parliament raises the reservation ceiling from 52 to 62 per cent. The state government is not empowered to raise the quota limit. It comes under the Centre’s jurisdiction. Now, in the absence of Constitutional validity, how will this reservation get the approval of the Supreme Court? Read more

IIT Bombay gets research park

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the IIT Bombay research park building and also laid the foundation stone of academic and residential buildings of the premier institute.

The IIT Bombay Research Park was constructed for Rs 225 crore, utilising Rs 100 crore from a grant by the Ministry of Education, Rs 67 crore from HEFA (Higher Education Financing Agency) loan, and Rs 58 crore from IITB internal revenue generation, a statement said. The Research Park is a G+14 floor building with 5 lakh square feet of built-up space.

The prime minister also laid the foundation stone of efficiency apartments, hostel 04, academic sciences blocks for chemistry and chemical engineering, bio-school and central animal facility, and academic blocks 1 and 2, as per the statement issued by the IIT Bombay. The total cost of the projects for which the foundation stone was laid is more than Rs 1,120 crore.

Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan......!! Honored to attend the inauguration of IITB Research Park building at IIT Powai. Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji inaugurated this cutting-edge facility via Virtual mode, marking a momentous leap in research and… pic.twitter.com/uVSeEtWFVw — Manoj Kotak (@manoj_kotak) February 20, 2024

NCP moves HC against Maharashtra speaker's decision to not disqualify Sharad Pawar faction MLAs

The NCP led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar challenged in the Bombay High Court the state assembly speaker's decision to not disqualify 10 MLAs from the Sharad Pawar camp.

The petitions requested the high court to quash Speaker Rahul Narwekar's recent order by declaring it bad in law, and also disqualify all the 10 legislators.

The petitions were filed by Anil Patil, chief whip of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, through advocate Shrirang Varma, challenging the "legality, propriety and correctness" of the order passed by Narwekar dismissing the disqualification petitions filed against the MLAs belonging to the Sharad Pawar faction.

A division bench led by Justice G S Kulkarni said it would hear the matter on Wednesday.

With draft Kunbi certificate notification kept open-ended, Marathas now fall under 2 quotas

The Maharashtra government, which legislated 10 per cent Maratha reservation, has kept open-ended its draft notification on the issuance of Kunbi certificates to eligible Marathas and blood relations within OBCs. Kunbi Marathas can thus avail of OBC reservation, while non-Kunbi Marathas will be covered under the new quota.

This is for the first time the Maharashtra government has extended reservation to the Maratha community under two separate categories.

Congress says Maratha quota bill will not pass legal test, dubs it 'pre-poll farce'

The Congress said the Maratha quota bill passed by the Maharashtra legislature will not stand the legal scrutiny and accused the government of deceiving Marathas and OBCs.

Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar dubbed the exercise a "farce" with an eye on elections. "The law on the Maratha reservation was passed earlier also, but it was rejected by the Supreme Court. This (the passage of the bill) was done conveniently before polls. The legislation will not stand the test of law," Leader of Opposition in the state legislative assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, told reporters.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray wondered if granting reservation comes under the purview of the state government. "This is a farce to win elections. The government has deceived the Maratha community and OBCs," he alleged.

Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil refuses to end strike, calls meeting on Wednesday

Manoj Jarange Patil, the activist who led the movement to provide caste-based reservations to Marathas and is on a hunger strike, welcomed the reservation bill introduced and passed in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, but contended that the reservation which has been proposed was not as per the community's demand.

"We need reservation which we deserve, give us reservation under OBC to those who's proof of being kunbi has been found and those who don't have proof of kunbi, for them pass a law of "Sage Soyare"," Patil said minutes after the Bill was passed unanimously by the Legislative Assembly.

He has called for a meeting of the Maratha community at 12 noon on Wednesday.

From Shivaji to Shinde, how Marathas came to dominate Maharashtra politics

The political conflict over whether the Marathas are a “backward” community or not has been raging since the early 1980s. Historians have long agreed that the term ‘Maratha’ as a category or caste is an amalgamation of families from several different castes, most of whom occupied the lower strata of the caste hierarchy such as the Kunbi, Lohar, Sutar, Bhandari, Thakar and Dhangar.

It is over a period of three or four centuries and through a complex historical process that Marathas acquired a distinct caste identity that went on to dominate the political and economic landscape of modern Maharashtra. “The Marathas are a self-empowerment success story in modern India,” says anthropologist Thomas Hansen who has authored the book, ‘Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay’ (2018).

Watch | Celebrations outside Maharashtra Legislative Assembly as Maratha reservation bill passes unanimously

#WATCH | Celebrations outside the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly in Mumbai after the Maratha reservation bill was unanimously passed after tabling in special Assembly session pic.twitter.com/eWRVc8yjMt — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Maratha quota | Total reservation in Mah goes up to 62%, 10 % EWS quota also effective in state

With passing of law of 10% Maratha reservation under socially and educationally backward category in jobs and education, the total reservation in Maharashtra will go up to 62 percent. 

In the state, following the 2001 State Reservation Act, the total reservation was 52 per cent. This included quotas for Scheduled Caster (13%), Scheduled Tribes (7%), Other Backward Classes (19%), Special Backward Class (2%), Vimukta Jati (3%), Nomadic Tribe B (2.5%), Nomadic Tribe C-Dhangar (3.5%) and Nomadic Tribe D-Vanjari (2%). 

With the addition of 12-13 per cent Maratha quota which was upheld by the Bombay HC in 2019, the total reservation in the state had gone up to 64-65 per cent, however the same was struck down by the Apex Court in May, 2021 taking it back to 52 per cent. With passing of 2024 law, it has again gone up to 64 percent.  The 10 % EWS quota is also effective in the state. 

Besides Marathas, communities including Dhangar, Lingayat and Muslim have also raised their demands for reservation in the state. 

On February 16, the Bombay High Court dismissed  dismissed “entirely without merit” petitions seeking Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Dhangar (shepherd) community in Maharashtra. The petitioners had claimed that the community in Maharashtra got listed as Dhangar instead of ‘Dhangad’ due to a typographical error and was therefore excluded from the ST category.

Marata quota | What else does the MSBC report say?

• As per the report, educational indicators illustrate with examples, that the level of education of the Maratha community is low, particularly in terms of completion of secondary education and attainment of degrees, post-graduate degrees and professional courses.
• Economic backwardness is the biggest obstacle to education.
• Inadequate education often leads to poverty, which in turn leads to inadequate education.
• Maratha families below poverty line and having yellow ration cards are 21.22 percent while open category families below poverty line are 18.09 percent.
• The percentage of Maratha families is higher than the state average (17.4 percent) indicating that they are economically backward.

Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil demands law on ‘sage-soyare’

Maharashtra Cabinet approved the draft of the bill for 10% Maratha reservation in education and government jobs. Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange Patil says, "This decision of the government has been taken by keeping election and votes in mind. This is a betrayal to… pic.twitter.com/gRkLK2sCTf — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Maratha reservation | We are confident bill will survive test of law: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde

After presenting the bill to extend 10 percent Maratha reservation in education and job sectors at the special session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the goverment is confident that the bill will survive the test of law, alleging many states have gone beyond the 50 percent quota limit.

He said, "We are confident that the reservation will survive the test of law. There are many states which have gone beyond the limit of 50 percent. We are confident that this government will be successful in safeguarding the reservation in the court."

He added, "We are giving this reservation by clearing all legal obstacles"

Maratha reservation | Chief Minister Shinde denounces threat to other communities as OBC leaders continue protests

After presenting the bill to extend 10 percent Maratha reservation in education and job sectors at the special session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that it poses no threat to other communities.

He said, "As a head of the state, I have always maintained positive mindset towards demands of every community and not only of Maratha. There will be No threat to the reservation of any community."

Mah opposition parties address letter to CM Shinde on Maratha quota extension; demand response before bill passes

Maharashtra opposition parties have written a letter to CM Eknath Shinde seeking his response on several points before passing the bill granting 10%reservation to Maratha community.

Opposition in its letter has sought clarification on:

• Whether the reservation will survive the test of law
• The government must clarify that the present reservation will not harm OBC reservation
• The government must disclose details of discussion between the government and Maratha social activist Manoj Jarange-Patil and also the assurance given
• The government must clarify on the present situation with respect to notification issued to amend the draft rules while giving caste certificates by including the word sage-soyare (extended relatives).

CM Eknath Shinde tables bill to extend 10% quota to Marathas

The Maharashtra government introduced a bill on Tuesday, extending reservation to Marathas above the 50 per cent mark in a special session of the state legislature.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tabled the bill to extend 10 percent reservation to Marathas in education and jobs, similar to that given in 2018 by the then-state government.

The reservation was extended based on a report submitted to the state government by the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission (MBCC) headed by chairman Justice (Retired) Sunil Shukre.

Money laundering case: ED tells HC it won't arrest Sameer Wankhede till March 1

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that it will extend till March 1 its previous statement that it would not arrest Sameer Wankhede, the former zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in a money laundering case.

A division bench of Justices P D Naik and N R Borkar accepted the statement and posted Wankhede's petition against the case on March 1.

The bench directed the probe agency to produce a copy of the ECIR (complaint) on that day.

The ED registered a money laundering case against Wankhede after taking cognisance of a first information report (FIR) by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in an alleged Rs 25-crore bribe demand from superstar Shah Rukh Khan's family to spare his son in a drugs case.

Earlier this month, Wankhede filed a petition in the high court seeking to quash the ED's case and, through an interim order, sought protection from any coercive action and a stay on the probe.

(PTI report)

Maharashtra to be USD 1 trillion economy by 2027-28: Governor Bais

Maharashtra Government has set an ambitious target of becoming a one trillion dollar economy by 2027-28, Governor Ramesh Bais informed the state legislature on Tuesday.

This target is in line with the country's goal of becoming a five trillion dollar economy, Bais said, addressing the legislators at the start of the day-long special session of the legislature on Maratha quota at Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai.

“In this year, 75 projects with Rs. 61,576 crore investment have been approved under the Package Scheme of Incentives, which will generate more than 53,000 employment opportunities in the state,” he said.

“Maharashtra is the highest in attracting foreign direct investment in the country. There has been foreign direct investment of Rs. 65,500 crore in the state. This investment is 38.78 per cent of the country's total foreign direct investment,” he said.

In January 2024, the state government signed MoUs of more than Rs 3.53 lakh crore at the World Economic Forum held in Davos. This will lead to creation of two lakh jobs, he said.

SP leader Abu Azmi holds demonstration for Muslim reservation outside Maharashtra Assembly

#WATCH | Mumbai: Before the Maharashtra government presents the Maratha Reservation Bill in the House today, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi waved banners outside the Maharashtra Assembly demanding reservation for Muslims. pic.twitter.com/egRsdo7FG9 — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Cop shoots himself dead with service revolver in Nashik police station

A 40-year-old police inspector shot himself dead with his service revolver inside his cabin at the Ambad police station in Maharashtra’s Nashik on Tuesday morning, said officials.

The police identified the deceased as Ashok Najan and said there has been no clarity on the reason behind the suicide so far.

After his colleagues at the police station heard the gunshot, they rushed towards his cabin and found his body slumped in his chair.

The police will record the statements of his colleagues and family members to clarify what was stressing him out.

Continue reading.

The OBC community heaved a sigh of relief after learning that the Maratha reservation will be for education in government education institutions and government jobs only and will not apply in politics.

Maratha leader Manoj Patil announces bigger agitation from Feb 21 if reservation not granted within OBC

Maratha activist Manoj Jarange Patil insisted on reservation within the OBC category.

He said that if the government does not accept the demand, there will be bigger agitation from February 21.

NCP minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal questions MSBC report; demands caste census

National Congress Party minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bujhbal on Tuesday said, "We will not allow inclusion of Marathas within OBC."

He further demanded a rollback on sage soyre notification, claiming that there are several discrepancies in Kunbhi enrollment.

Bhujbal also questioned the MSBCC report on Maratha reservation and demanded a caste census be done in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Rastriya OBC Mahasangh prez asks state govt to ensure legal validity of maratha quota extension

Maharashtra Rastriya OBC Mahasangh president Babanrao Taywade on Tuesday said the community has no problems if Marathas are given reservation in separate quota without impacting OBC reservation.

However, he added, "But the responsibility to ensure such reservation withstands legal validity rests with state government."

Opinion | In Maratha reservation issue, BJP is playing with fire

In India, promising reservation to any caste or community is as daring an act as riding a tiger. Getting off the “reservation tiger” could be even more adventurous. The BJP in Maharashtra would have learnt this by now.  Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has ended his fast.  But with over half a dozen supporters committing suicide in the last few weeks, the  issue has turned into a fireball   that could hurt the ruling party’s ambitions.

Marathas, forming 33 per cent of Maharashtra’s population, are the strongest of all communities in the state. Eleven of the state’s 16 chief ministers have been Marathas. Chief Minister  Eknath Shinde , deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and half of the 29-member cabinet are Marathas. In the education sector, most major private and deemed universities in the state, like the Bharati Vidyapeeth, D Y Patil University and the Pravara Institute Of Medical Sciences, are founded and run by Marathas.

Despite a wide and strong political and social base, Marathas want reservation. The government cannot give it. This raises two questions. Why do Marathas need reservation and why is complying with their demand so difficult for the ruling alliance? To answer, one needs to dip into the state’s social history.

Writes Girish Kuber.

Watch | Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi says state govt using Maratha quota agitation as political tool

VIDEO | Here's what Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi ( @priyankac19 ) said on Maratha reservation issue. "The way Maratha reservation has been used as a political tool and how Marathas have been denied, what they have been asking for a long time now, how they were… pic.twitter.com/GzsVUCArFR — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 20, 2024

Maratha reservation: The OBC reaction

OBC organisations have come together to vehemently oppose the Maratha demand. OBC Jan Morcha president Prakash Shendge has threatened to launch a statewide agitation if the government gives the Marathas OBC reservation.

OBC leaders say they are not against Marathas getting reservation, but it should not be at their cost. OBCs already get only 19% reservation in Maharashtra compared to the 27% nationally, and cannot be expected to share the quota with the politically and numerically dominant Marathas, they say.

The 52% reservation in the state is currently divided into Scheduled Castes 13%, Scheduled Tribes 7%, OBCs 19%, Special Backward Classes 2%, Vimukta Jati 3%, Nomadic tribe (B) 2.5%, Nomadic Tribe (C) Dhangar 3.5%, and Nomadic tribe (D) Vanjari 2%.

Separately, there is a 10% EWS quota which is applicable to the non-quota section of the population irrespective of caste and religion, with an annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh.

The Maratha quota, explained: The SC responses

In May 2021, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan struck down the provisions of the Maharashtra law providing reservation to the Maratha community, which took the total quota in the state beyond the 50% ceiling set by the court in its 1992 Indra Sawhney (Mandal) judgment.

In November 2022, after the SC upheld the Centre’s 10% quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), the Maharashtra government said that until the issue of Maratha reservation is resolved, the poor among the Marathas could not benefit from the EWS quota. In April this year, the court turned down Maharashtra’s plea for a review of its decision, following which the state said it would file a curative petition.

The government also said that a commission would be set up to carry out a detailed survey of the “backwardness” of the community.

The Maratha quota, explained: What triggered recent agitation?

The Marathas want to be identified as Kunbis, which would entitle them to benefits under the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The demand for OBC reservation arose after the Supreme Court, in May 2021, struck down the quota for Marathas under the state’s Socially and Educationally Backward Class (SEBC) Act, 2018.

In June 2019, the Bombay High Court upheld the Maratha quota under the SEBC Act. However, the court ruled that the 16% quota under the Act was not “justifiable”, and reduced it to 12% in education and 13% in government jobs, as recommended by the State Backward Class Commission.

The HC also said that total reservations should not exceed 50%, except in exceptional circumstances and extraordinary situations. This would be subject to availability of quantifiable and contemporaneous data reflecting backwardness, inadequacy of representation and without affecting the efficiency in administration.

The Maratha quota, explained: Since when have Marathas been demanding reservations?

The demand for Maratha reservation has been a political issue and reason for mass protests in the state ever since Mathadi Labour Union leader Annasaheb Patil led the first protest rally in  Mumbai  in 1981.

During 2016-18, the Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) held massive statewide demonstrations — while the first phase of 58 rallies remained peaceful, the second phase of protests saw bloodshed and several alleged suicides.

Over the years, a succession of Maratha Chief Ministers have been unable to satisfy the community’s demands. In the latest phase of the agitation, Jarange-Patil began a hunger strike on August 29.

The Maratha quota demand, explained: Who are the Marathas?

Historically identified as a “warrior” caste, the Marathas comprise mainly peasant and landowning groups who make up almost a third of the population of Maharashtra. Most Marathas speak Marathi, though not all Marathi-speaking people are Marathas.

The Marathas have been the politically dominant community in Maharashtra — since the formation of the state in 1960, 12 of its 20 Chief Ministers, including Shinde, have been Marathas. The division of holdings and problems in the farm sector over the years have, however, led to a decline in the prosperity of middle- and lower middle-class Marathas.

OBC reservation for Marathas: Did BJP underestimate Eknath Shinde?

In June 2022, when it engineered a split in its longstanding partner, the Shiv Sena, the BJP wouldn’t have imagined, even in its wildest dreams, that the man it entrusted with the responsibility of Maharashtra’s chief ministership would plan to build his vote bank and extend his use-by-date. For the BJP, Eknath Sambhaji Shinde, when he was handed over the reins of the prized state of Maharashtra, was someone who could be fed its political agenda. But looks are deceptive, especially in politics.

Around two-and-a-half years later, Shinde has not only succeeded in rallying the politically strong Marathas behind him but also challenged the  BJP ’s traditional OBC base. Last week, he announced the inclusion of Marathas in the OBC category.

In June 2022, when the BJP split Shinde and others from the  Shiv Sena , the plan was pretty simple: Dethrone Uddhav Thackeray who, according to the party, was a traitor who deprived the BJP of Maharashtra by joining hands with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Congress, after the 2019 assembly elections. The BJP eyed Shinde for two reasons: One, he was Uddhav’s right-hand man and knew the Sena’s working inside out. Always an organisation man, Shinde till then had been a low-profile leader and was not seen as being ambitious.

Girish Kuber writes.

Maratha quota| Jarange-Patil blackmailed govt to end OBC political reservation: OBC community protestor in Beed

#WATCH | Beed, Maharashtra: "We are not against Maratha reservation but Manoj Jarange's demand to take reservation from OBC is wrong. He blackmailed the government to end the political reservation of OBC. The government can give separate reservation to Marathas but OBC… pic.twitter.com/WZ8sCIK3uR — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Watch | OBC community members protest against Maratha quota in Beed

Members of the OBC Community stage a protest in Beed against Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil over the issue of Maratha reservation.

#WATCH | Maharashtra | Members of the OBC Community stage a protest in Beed against Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil over the issue of Maratha reservation. pic.twitter.com/SOqqckdRq6 — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Watch| In light of Maratha quota extension, SP MLA implores DyCM Ajit Pawar to look into Muslim quota

Speaking to ANI on Tuesday on the issue of the Maratha reservation, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Rais Shaikh said though the reservation extension is welcomed, the promises for quota for the Muslim community is being ignored. 

He said, "When the Maratha community was given reservation by the previous government, on the same day a notification was brought out and a 5% reservation was given to Muslims. But today, we are seeing that Maratha community is getting justice which we welcome but at the same time, the Muslim community is being ignored."

Rais appealed to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to look into the matter. He added, " We appeal to the government to go through the notification, when you are doing justice, do justice to everybody. I appeal to Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who had promised that no injustice will be done to the minorities to look into this and give justice to the minorities of this state."

#WATCH | Mumbai | Maharashtra Cabinet approved the draft of the bill for 10% Maratha reservation in education and government jobs. Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Rais Shaikh says, "....When the Maratha community was given reservation by the previous government, on the same day a… pic.twitter.com/KjyVpopxqK — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Watch | NCP leader Rohit Pawar says state-level Maratha quota not enough; needs to reach Centre

#WATCH | On the Maratha reservation, Nationalist Congress Party - Sharadchandra Pawar leader Rohit Pawar says, "We hope that the reservation being given today will stand in the court also. Reservation is being given at the state level. If we really want to give the reservation,… pic.twitter.com/lVoTfCvvdJ — ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2024

Maharashtra Cabinet approves report suggesting 10% reservation for Marathas, to introduce Bill today

The Maharashtra Cabinet on Tuesday approved the report of the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission saying the Maratha community is a socially and educationally backward class and should get 10 per cent reservation in education and government jobs.

The Maharashtra Government will introduce the Bill on Tuesday to extend reservations to Marathas.

In its report submitted to the Maharashtra Government on Friday, the Commission said the Maratha community should be specified as such under Article 342A(3) of the Constitution of India and reservations should be given to these classes under Article 15(4), 15(5) and Article 16(4). The report also said 84 per cent of Marathas are not advanced or well-to-do.

The report said there is an exceptional case wherein Marathas can be given reservation by exceeding the cap of 50 per cent reservation in the state. “An exceptional circumstances and exceptional circumstances specified by the Commission exists while authorising the granting of limited reservation of more than 50 per cent to the Maratha community in reservation in admissions to civil institutions and in reservation in public services and posts,” it said.

Read full story.

Maratha Reservation | Bombay HC adjourns PIL challenging MSBCC appointments for two weeks

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday adjourned a PIL challenging appointments of Chairperson (Justice Sunil B Shukre) and other members of Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) for two weeks.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf for state government told a Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya-led bench that the timing of moving of these matters was 'apparent' as today the Assembly session is being held on the issue and the PIL was not even served to the respondent authorities.

The bench, at the request of petitioner Mrunal Shantaram Dholepatil's lawyer adjourned the hearing and asked the petitioner to serve the PIL copy to the state government, and posted it after two weeks.

Maratha reservation | What does the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission report say?

The report of Maharashtra Backward Class Commission on the status of backwardness in Maratha community was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday.

It concludes that the Maratha community is a socially and educationally backward class and should be specified as such under Article 342A(3) of the Constitution of India and reservation should be made for those classes under Article 15(4), 15(5) and Article 16(4) of the Constitution. 

The report, which was submitted to the government on Friday, further states that "an exceptional circumstances and exceptional circumstances specified by the Commission exists, while authorizing the granting of limited reservation of more than 50 per cent to the Maratha community in reservation in admissions to civil institutions and in reservation in public services and posts."

The report further suggests that 10 percent reservation to Maratha community in public services and 10 percent reservation in admissions to educational institutions is necessary and visible.

"It is desirable to make special provisions by law for reservation in public services for the advancement of the socially and educationally backward and for admissions to educational institutions other than those specified in Clause (1) of Article 30 of the Constitution of India," the report of backward class commission states.

Alleged sexual harassment | ‘Fake letter’ was written by constable, on the run: Police

Mumbai Police probing the “fake letter” alleging sexual harassment of eight constables from its Motor Transport (MT) department have zeroed in on a constable from the same department as the person who sent the letter. As evidence, the police said it has statements of two other cops in whom the constable had confided about having sent the letter to the CM’s office before fleeing.

The police are currently on the lookout for the constable and once he is caught, they will decide further course of action. The police suspect it was part of a rivalry between two groups that had formed in the department that may have led to the constable having written the letter.

Reports Mohamed Thaver.

Case against 3 persons for duping Navi Mumbai man of Rs 5 lakh by selling fake gold coins

A case has been registered against a woman, her son and another person for allegedly cheating a 41-year-old man from Navi Mumbai of Rs 5 lakh by selling him fake gold coins, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, hailing from Mumbra in Maharashtra's Thane district, initially gained the victim's trust by selling him genuine gold coins earlier this month.

They later lured him into buying more coins and allegedly cheating him of Rs 5 lakh by selling him counterfeit coins, an official from Kharghar police station said.

After realising that he was duped, the man approached the Mumbra police who referred the matter to their counterparts at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai.

The Kharghar police on Monday registered a case against the mother-son duo and another accused under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention), the official said. 

4 booked for cheating people of Rs 65.73 lakh with promise of discounts on phones and cars

Police have registered a case against four persons for allegedly cheating five people from Navi Mumbai township in Maharashtra of Rs 65.73 lakh by promising them discounts on high-end mobile phones and cars, an official said on Tuesday.

The accused posed as employees of a well-known company.

They lured the victims to invest substantial sums with a promise of getting them expensive mobile phones and cars on discounts through coupons of the company in 40 days, the official from Kamothe police station said.

The victims collectively invested Rs 65.73 lakh between August 2023 and January 2024 to get such items.

When the accused did not deliver the goods as promised and gave evasive responses, one of the victims, a 34-year-old self-employed woman, approached the Kamothe police.

Based on her complaint, the police on Monday registered a case against the four accused, including a couple, from Mumbai under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention), the official said.

Maharashtra to introduce bill on Tuesday to extend reservation to Marathas

The Maharashtra government is set to introduce a bill on Tuesday, extending reservation to Marathas above the 50 per cent mark in a special session of the state legislature. According to sources, the government will extend 10 to 12 per cent reservation to Marathas in education and jobs, similar to that given in 2018 by the then state government.

The reservation will be extended based on a report submitted to the state government by the Maharashtra Backward Class Commission (MBCC) headed by chairman Justice (Retired) Sunil Shukre. Last week, the Commission submitted a report on social and educational backwardness of the Maratha community for which it had undertaken the survey of around 2.5 crore homes within nine days.

According to sources, the report, though not made public, has confirmed the social and educational backwardness of Marathas. It has put the onus on the state government on finding the way to extend reservation to Marathas.

Poll preparation: Sena UBT appoints coordinators for 18 Lok Sabha seats

Even as the seat-sharing deal between the parties constituting the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is yet to be finalised, the Shiv Sena UBT led by Uddhav Thackeray on Monday appointed coordinators for 18 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra to look after poll preparation, in an indication that the party would contest those seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Of the 18 coordinators of Sena UBT, four are in the Lok Sabha constituencies of  Mumbai , which has six seats.

MLA Vilas Potnis has been given the responsibility of Mumbai North West LS constituency, while Datta Dalvi has been given the responsibility of North East LS constituency, Ravindra Mirlekar of Mumbai South Central and Sudhir Salvi and Satywan Dubey of Mumbai South LS constituency.

According to the party functionary, the party has started preparing for Lok Sabha elections and has appointed coordinators in those constituencies where it feels has strong candidate and voter base to field its own candidate. The functionary said that the Sena UBT staked claim on 23 seats and the coordinators for the remaining seats would possibly be appointed in a couple of days.

Weather today

Skies in Mumbai are expected to be sunny today. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 19 degrees Celsius and 32 degrees Celsius, respectively.

Good morning!

Welcome to the Mumbai Live Blog. Stay with us on this space as we bring you the latest news updates live from in and around Mumbai!

Govt to declare Shivaji’s gauntlet sword state weapon: Mungantiwar

Maharashtra cultural affairs minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Monday said the state government has decided to declare the gauntlet sword (also called dandpatta in Marathi) of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj as the state weapon. The announcement came on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the coronation of the 17th century Maratha King warrior. Mungantiwar said that Shivaji’s sword is significant in Maratha history since it was a distinctive weapon of the Maratha army. “Since it is important to highlight the significance of the weapon, a decision has been taken to declare it as a state of weapon of Maharashtra,” he said, adding that Chief Minister  Eknath Shinde  gave an approval to declare the ‘danpatta’ the state weapon at the Shivaji Jayanti celebrations at Agra fort on Monday.

Mumbai will be one trillion dollar economy in 2028-29: Fadnavis

While declaring Maharashtra will achieve its ambitious goal of being a one trillion dollar economy in 2028-29, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said a Mumbai makeover is key to the development and growth of India. He said the massive infrastructure projects will transform the face of Mumbai, making it more liveable and affordable, turning it into a city of dreams. Fadnavis on Monday launched  Mumbai  Megapolis  Metaverse , the world’s largest application of Metamerse in urban governance, at BKC in Mumbai. In an interactive session held after he unveiled the country’s financial capital’s plans and projects, Fadnavis emphasised on how infrastructure would play a significant role in giving an edge over other cities, namely Bengaluru and  Hyderabad , in the technology sector in terms of investments and employment. He said even now Mumbai was the startup capital of the country followed by  Pune  in the tech sector.

• The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
• Eknath Shinde
• Maratha reservation
• Mumbai weather
• Elections 2024
• Political Pulse
• Entertainment
• Movie Review
• Newsletters
• Gold Rate Today
• Silver Rate Today
• Petrol Rate Today
• Diesel Rate Today
• Web Stories

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

U.S. Department of Commerce

• Press Releases

Was this page helpful?

Chips for america announces over $50 million funding opportunity to encourage small business research and development.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to seek applications from eligible small businesses to explore the technical merit or feasibility of an innovative idea or technology for developing a viable product or service for introduction in the commercial microelectronics marketplace. The Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to helping small businesses access the resources they need to thrive and promote competition to level the playing field.

The CHIPS for America program anticipates up to approximately $54 million in funding across multiple topics on research projects for critically needed measurement services, tools, and instrumentation; innovative manufacturing metrologies; novel assurance and provenance technologies and advanced metrology research and development (R&D) testbeds to help secure U.S. leadership in the global semiconductor industry.

President Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act into law on August 9, 2022. The Department of Commerce is overseeing $50 billion to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry and strengthen the country’s economic and national security. CHIPS for America R&D within the U.S. Department of Commerce is responsible for administering $11 billion to advance U.S. leadership in semiconductor R&D. CHIPS R&D is a critical part of President Biden’s agenda to support American innovation for decades to come.

Metrology, the science of measurement and its application plays a key role in semiconductor manufacturing. As devices become more complex, smaller, and multi-layered, the ability to measure, monitor, predict, and ensure quality in manufacturing becomes much more difficult and uncertain.

In September 2022, NIST published a report titled Strategic Opportunities for U.S. Semiconductor Manufacturing , which identifies seven grand challenges that need critical attention from a metrology perspective to achieve U.S. leadership in semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing. This report summarizes input from industry, academia, and government and provides strategies for addressing the grand challenges.

“CHIPS for America is committed to building opportunities for all businesses, including small businesses, to prosper as we grow the U.S. semiconductor industry. Because we recognize the high costs associated with innovation in the semiconductor industry, we’re offering awardees of this funding opportunity up to the maximum amount possible per award by the Small Business Innovation Research Program to ensure opportunity is within reach for all businesses seeking to be part of the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo .

“Small businesses have an important role to play in the semiconductor ecosystem,” said Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Director Laurie E. Locascio. “NIST has long supported the SBIR program, and this funding opportunity dedicated to CHIPS Metrology will help give small businesses the opportunity to take innovative ideas, scale them for the commercial marketplace, and boost the U.S. economy.”

Funded activities are expected to include, but not necessarily be limited to compact, fieldable cryogenic technologies, compact extreme ultraviolet (EUV) sources, and the seven grand challenges.

This funding opportunity is provided through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, the federal government’s largest platform to promote U.S. technology innovation research and private-sector commercialization. NIST is one of eleven federal government agencies that operate an SBIR program. 

CHIPS for America will provide a briefing on details of the NOFO on April 18, 2024, at 3:30pm ET. Webinar participants must register in advance.

Learn more about the CHIPS Metrology Program and the seven grand challenges .

About CHIPS for America    

CHIPS for America is part of President Biden’s economic plan to invest in America, stimulate private sector investment, create good-paying jobs, make more in the United States, and revitalize communities left behind. CHIPS for America includes the CHIPS Program Office, responsible for manufacturing incentives, and the CHIPS Research and Development (R&D) Office, responsible for R&D programs. Both offices sit within the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the Department of Commerce. NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life. NIST is uniquely positioned to successfully administer the CHIPS for America program because of the bureau’s strong relationships with U.S. industries, its deep understanding of the semiconductor ecosystem, and its reputation as fair and trusted. Visit  www.chips.gov  to learn more.    

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Atlas, a Humanoid Robot From Boston Dynamics, Is Leaping Into Retirement

It has been replaced by a new model, which will be used in automotive manufacturing. A farewell video featured the old machine running outdoors, performing back flips and awkwardly shimmying.

By Johnny Diaz

Atlas, the humanoid robot that dazzled followers for more than a decade with its outdoor running, awkward dancing and acrobatic back flips, has powered down. In other words, it is retiring.

On Wednesday, Boston Dynamics, the company that created it, announced the arrival of the next generation of humanoid robots — a fully electric robot (also named Atlas) for real-world commercial and industrial applications.

For anyone worried about what would happen to the hydraulic bipedal machine (a robot home? the junkyard? a window display?) that was created for research purposes, the company had an answer. A spokesman, Nikolas Noel, said that retirement would mean that the Atlas would move to its “robot retirement home,” which is to say that it would be “sitting in our office lobby museum” with other decommissioned robots.

The old Atlas was used to research full-body mobility and to explore what was possible in robotics, Mr. Noel said. It was not designed for commercial use and was first developed as part of a competition to further the use of robots “in future natural and man-made disasters,” according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Pentagon.

“For almost a decade, Atlas has sparked our imagination, inspired the next generations of roboticists and leapt over technical barriers in the field,” Boston Dynamics said in a farewell video posted on social media on Tuesday.

“Now it’s time for our hydraulic Atlas robot to kick back and relax,” the company said.

The company’s farewell video captured the brawny 6-foot-2 machine in action over the years. That included taking a stroll in a grassy field, leaping on boxes (or picking up 10-pound ones), carefully walking on a rock bed and awkwardly shimmying.

But the video also featured some mishaps, including the robot’s frequent stumbles such as falling over on platforms, rolling down a hill and leaking hydraulic fluid from its leg inside a lab.

The new model has a big round head that spins completely around, is leaner and can nimbly rise from a horizontal position to a bipedal stance in seconds. Its hips appear to be reversible, so it might be better than us at some yoga poses.

The company’s commercial models include Spot, an agile four-legged robot, and Stretch, an elongated warehouse platform.

“The new Atlas builds on decades of research and furthers our commitment to delivering the most capable, useful mobile robots solving the toughest challenges in industry today: with Spot, with Stretch, and now with Atlas,” the company wrote in a video post introducing the new robot .

The new model will be used to build “the next generation of automotive manufacturing capabilities” with Hyundai Motor Company, which owns Boston Dynamics.

The original Atlas made its public debut in 2013 in Waltham, Mass., where Boston Dynamics is based, after it received initial funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The company was awarded a $10.8 million contract to work with the agency on developing Atlas for the D.A.R.P.A. Robotics Challenge.

There were seven updated Atlases, each of which was made from aircraft-grade aluminum and titanium and weighed 330 pounds. They were then used as base models by teams competing for a $2 million prize in the challenge. But the final challenge was won by a Korean team that built a robot that could kneel and roll around on wheels as it performed tasks.

During its training, researchers were tough on the Atlas, even hurling weights at it to see how well it responded and adapted to challenges inside and outside the lab.

Johnny Diaz is a general assignment reporter covering breaking news. He previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boston Globe. More about Johnny Diaz

• See us on facebook
• See us on twitter
• See us on youtube
• See us on linkedin
• See us on instagram

Two key brain systems are central to psychosis, Stanford Medicine-led study finds

When the brain has trouble filtering incoming information and predicting what’s likely to happen, psychosis can result, Stanford Medicine-led research shows.

April 11, 2024 - By Erin Digitale

People with psychosis have trouble filtering relevant information (mesh funnel) and predicting rewarding events (broken crystal ball), creating a complex inner world. Emily Moskal

Inside the brains of people with psychosis, two key systems are malfunctioning: a “filter” that directs attention toward important external events and internal thoughts, and a “predictor” composed of pathways that anticipate rewards.

Dysfunction of these systems makes it difficult to know what’s real, manifesting as hallucinations and delusions. 

The findings come from a Stanford Medicine-led study , published April 11 in  Molecular Psychiatry , that used brain scan data from children, teens and young adults with psychosis. The results confirm an existing theory of how breaks with reality occur.

“This work provides a good model for understanding the development and progression of schizophrenia, which is a challenging problem,” said lead author  Kaustubh Supekar , PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

The findings, observed in individuals with a rare genetic disease called 22q11.2 deletion syndrome who experience psychosis as well as in those with psychosis of unknown origin, advance scientists’ understanding of the underlying brain mechanisms and theoretical frameworks related to psychosis.

During psychosis, patients experience hallucinations, such as hearing voices, and hold delusional beliefs, such as thinking that people who are not real exist. Psychosis can occur on its own and isa hallmark of certain serious mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is also characterized by social withdrawal, disorganized thinking and speech, and a reduction in energy and motivation.

It is challenging to study how schizophrenia begins in the brain. The condition usually emerges in teens or young adults, most of whom soon begin taking antipsychotic medications to ease their symptoms. When researchers analyze brain scans from people with established schizophrenia, they cannot distinguish the effects of the disease from the effects of the medications. They also do not know how schizophrenia changes the brain as the disease progresses. 

To get an early view of the disease process, the Stanford Medicine team studied young people aged 6 to 39 with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, a genetic condition with a 30% risk for psychosis, schizophrenia or both. 

Kaustubh Supekar

Brain function in 22q11.2 patients who have psychosis is similar to that in people with psychosis of unknown origin, they found. And these brain patterns matched what the researchers had previously theorized was generating psychosis symptoms.

“The brain patterns we identified support our theoretical models of how cognitive control systems malfunction in psychosis,” said senior study author  Vinod Menon , PhD, the Rachael L. and Walter F. Nichols, MD, Professor; a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences; and director of the  Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory .

Thoughts that are not linked to reality can capture the brain’s cognitive control networks, he said. “This process derails the normal functioning of cognitive control, allowing intrusive thoughts to dominate, culminating in symptoms we recognize as psychosis.”

Cerebral sorting  

Normally, the brain’s cognitive filtering system — aka the salience network — works behind the scenes to selectively direct our attention to important internal thoughts and external events. With its help, we can dismiss irrational thoughts and unimportant events and focus on what’s real and meaningful to us, such as paying attention to traffic so we avoid a collision.

The ventral striatum, a small brain region, and associated brain pathways driven by dopamine, play an important role in predicting what will be rewarding or important. 

For the study, the researchers assembled as much functional MRI brain-scan data as possible from young people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, totaling 101 individuals scanned at three different universities. (The study also included brain scans from several comparison groups without 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: 120 people with early idiopathic psychosis, 101 people with autism, 123 with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and 411 healthy controls.) 

The genetic condition, characterized by deletion of part of the 22nd chromosome, affects 1 in every 2,000 to 4,000 people. In addition to the 30% risk of schizophrenia or psychosis, people with the syndrome can also have autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which is why these conditions were included in the comparison groups.

The researchers used a type of machine learning algorithm called a spatiotemporal deep neural network to characterize patterns of brain function in all patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome compared with healthy subjects. With a cohort of patients whose brains were scanned at the University of California, Los Angeles, they developed an algorithmic model that distinguished brain scans from people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome versus those without it. The model predicted the syndrome with greater than 94% accuracy. They validated the model in additional groups of people with or without the genetic syndrome who had received brain scans at UC Davis and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, showing that in these independent groups, the model sorted brain scans with 84% to 90% accuracy.

The researchers then used the model to investigate which brain features play the biggest role in psychosis. Prior studies of psychosis had not given consistent results, likely because their sample sizes were too small. 

Vinod Menon

Comparing brain scans from 22q11.2 deletion syndrome patients who had and did not have psychosis, the researchers showed that the brain areas contributing most to psychosis are the anterior insula (a key part of the salience network or “filter”) and the ventral striatum (the “reward predictor”); this was true for different cohorts of patients.

In comparing the brain features of people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and psychosis against people with psychosis of unknown origin, the model found significant overlap, indicating that these brain features are characteristic of psychosis in general.

A second mathematical model, trained to distinguish all subjects with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and psychosis from those who have the genetic syndrome but without psychosis, selected brain scans from people with idiopathic psychosis with 77.5% accuracy, again supporting the idea that the brain’s filtering and predicting centers are key to psychosis.

Furthermore, this model was specific to psychosis: It could not classify people with idiopathic autism or ADHD.

“It was quite exciting to trace our steps back to our initial question — ‘What are the dysfunctional brain systems in schizophrenia?’ — and to discover similar patterns in this context,” Menon said. “At the neural level, the characteristics differentiating individuals with psychosis in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome are mirroring the pathways we’ve pinpointed in schizophrenia. This parallel reinforces our understanding of psychosis as a condition with identifiable and consistent brain signatures.” However, these brain signatures were not seen in people with the genetic syndrome but no psychosis, holding clues to future directions for research, he added.

Applications for treatment or prevention

In addition to supporting the scientists’ theory about how psychosis occurs, the findings have implications for understanding the condition — and possibly preventing it.

“One of my goals is to prevent or delay development of schizophrenia,” Supekar said. The fact that the new findings are consistent with the team’s prior research on which brain centers contribute most to schizophrenia in adults suggests there may be a way to prevent it, he said. “In schizophrenia, by the time of diagnosis, a lot of damage has already occurred in the brain, and it can be very difficult to change the course of the disease.”

“What we saw is that, early on, functional interactions among brain regions within the same brain systems are abnormal,” he added. “The abnormalities do not start when you are in your 20s; they are evident even when you are 7 or 8.”

Our discoveries underscore the importance of approaching people with psychosis with compassion.

The researchers plan to use existing treatments, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation or focused ultrasound, targeted at these brain centers in young people at risk of psychosis, such as those with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome or with two parents who have schizophrenia, to see if they prevent or delay the onset of the condition or lessen symptoms once they appear. 

The results also suggest that using functional MRI to monitor brain activity at the key centers could help scientists investigate how existing antipsychotic medications are working. 

Although it’s still puzzling why someone becomes untethered from reality — given how risky it seems for one’s well-being — the “how” is now understandable, Supekar said. “From a mechanistic point of view, it makes sense,” he said.

“Our discoveries underscore the importance of approaching people with psychosis with compassion,” Menon said, adding that his team hopes their work not only advances scientific understanding but also inspires a cultural shift toward empathy and support for those experiencing psychosis. 

“I recently had the privilege of engaging with individuals from our department’s early psychosis treatment group,” he said. “Their message was a clear and powerful: ‘We share more similarities than differences. Like anyone, we experience our own highs and lows.’ Their words were a heartfelt appeal for greater empathy and understanding toward those living with this condition. It was a call to view psychosis through a lens of empathy and solidarity.”

Researchers contributed to the study from UCLA, Clinica Alemana Universidad del Desarrollo, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, the University of Oxford and UC Davis.

The study was funded by the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute’s Uytengsu-Hamilton 22q11 Neuropsychiatry Research Program, FONDEYCT (the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development of the government of Chile), ANID-Chile (the Chilean National Agency for Research and Development) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (grants AG072114, MH121069, MH085953 and MH101779).

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu .

Artificial intelligence

Exploring ways AI is applied to health care

• mumbai News

State sets up task force on education research

Visual Stories

Subscribe Now! Get features like

• Latest News
• Entertainment
• Real Estate
• DC vs SRH Live Score
• UP Board Result Live
• UP 10th Result LIVE
• UP 12th Result LIVE
• Assam HSLC Result LIVE
• UP Board Result
• Election Schedule 2024
• Win iPhone 15
• IPL 2024 Schedule
• IPL Points Table
• IPL Purple Cap
• IPL Orange Cap
• AP Board Results 2024
• The Interview
• Web Stories
• Virat Kohli
• Mumbai News
• Bengaluru News
• Daily Digest

BARTI students protest against non-payment of fellowships

After failing to receive research fellowship since 2021, at least 861 reserved-category students from dr babasaheb ambedkar research and training institute (barti), pune, have been protesting for more than a month at mumbai’s azad maidan.

MUMBAI: After failing to receive research fellowship since 2021, at least 861 reserved-category students from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI), Pune, have been protesting for more than a month at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan.

A research fellowship offered by BARTI comes with a monthly stipend of ₹ 31,000 for the first two years and ₹ 35,000 for the following three years of PhD study.

Students complained that the administartion was treating them unfairly by restricting the number of students receiving the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar National Research Fellowship (BANRF) through BARTI, which is an autonomous organisation of social justice and special assistance department, while not placing any limit to research fellowships allotted through other schemes such as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Research and Training Institute (MAHAJYOTI) for Other Backward Class (OBC) students and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Research, Training and Human Development Institute (SARTHI) for economically weaker section (EWS) students.

Kishor Tupvihire, one of the protesters and a research student from Ahmednagar, pursuing his studies at BARTI, said, “It is unfair that BARTI is restricted to only 200 candidates, but there is no such limit for other schemes like SARTHI and MAHAJYOTI. Other research fellowship schemes by the government have crossed the prescribed limit each year to include all candidates who are declared eligible, post the verification process.”

“Through BARTI, a total of 861 candidates were declared eligible in 2021, but research fellowship was granted to only 200 candidates. BARTI had proposed to the state administration that the remaining 662 applicants be considered for the fellowship, but the state administration had not responded,” he said.

Prakash Taru, another student from Nanded, said, “At least 551 candidates were allotted research fellowships under SARTHI in 2021 which was increased to 856 candidates in 2022. MAHAJYOTI, which had a cap of 500 candidates as mentioned in their advertisement, ended up issuing a final list of 953 candidates after verification of documents.”

Ishwar Adsul, member of Research Students Action Committee, said, “We are being denied the advantages of this scheme by the administration. This is extremely reprehensible in a progressive state like Maharashtra, which is renowned for social and educational reformists like Jyoti Phule and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the social justice department itself has treated us unfairly,” he said.

“If our demands are not met, we will all go on a fast-unto-death protest,” he said.

Commissioner of social welfare department Samadhan Ingle was not available for comment despite repeated attempts.

• Maharashtra
• Research Fellowship
• Administration
• Commissioner

Join Hindustan Times

Create free account and unlock exciting features like.

• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Weather Today
• HT Newsletters
• Subscription
• Print Ad Rates
• Code of Ethics

• Elections 2024
• India vs England
• T20 World Cup 2024 Schedule
• IPL 2024 Auctions
• T20 World Cup 2024
• Cricket Teams
• Cricket Players
• ICC Rankings
• Cricket Schedule
• Other Cities
• Income Tax Calculator
• Budget 2024
• Petrol Prices
• Diesel Prices
• Silver Rate
• Relationships
• Art and Culture
• Taylor Swift: A Primer
• Telugu Cinema
• Tamil Cinema
• Exam Results
• Competitive Exams
• Board Exams
• BBA Colleges
• Engineering Colleges
• Medical Colleges
• BCA Colleges
• Medical Exams
• Engineering Exams
• Horoscope 2024
• Festive Calendar 2024
• Compatibility Calculator
• The Economist Articles
• Explainer Video
• On The Record
• Vikram Chandra Daily Wrap
• PBKS vs DC Live Score
• KKR vs SRH Live Score
• EPL 2023-24
• ISL 2023-24
• Asian Games 2023
• Public Health
• Economic Policy
• International Affairs
• Climate Change
• Gender Equality
• future tech
• Daily Sudoku
• Daily Crossword
• Daily Word Jumble
• HT Friday Finance
• Explore Hindustan Times
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Subscription - Terms of Use

Trump's defense used a jury consultant to research and help them select jurors

The New Yorkers who could decide Donald Trump’s fate were vetted in real time on Friday by the former president’s defense team.

As the potential alternate jurors were being questioned by prosecutors seeking to convict Trump of illegally paying hush money to a porn star , and by defense attorneys trying to keep him out of jail, a jury consultant hired by Trump's legal team was watching the candidates closely for telltale signs of possible bias while simultaneously feeding the defense attorneys her impressions.

Follow along for live updates

Meanwhile, other jury consultants say, it is likely that a team of researchers working with the jury consultant were doing social media and other online searches to fill out the picture of every potential juror and sending that information to Trump’s lawyers in the courtroom.

“All this has to happen relatively quickly,” said veteran jury consultant Jo-Ellan Dimitrius of Dimitrius & Associates, who has been following the case and identified the firm working for Trump as Magna Legal Services.

The Philadelphia-based firm did not respond to a call from NBC News but court records show that Magna served as Trump’s jury consultant when was ordered to pay $83.3 million in damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her in 2019.

It was not immediately clear if the Manhattan District Attorney’s office used its own jury consultant to vet jurors and a spokesperson for the agency did not return numerous phone calls from NBC News.

By midday, jury selection had been completed and Trump's first trial was heading for opening arguments.

Using jury consultants for vetting has become a fairly common practice.

“In my experience, there’s usually a consultant sitting behind the lawyers with a laptop who is feeding information to the lawyer doing the questioning of jurors,” Dimitrius said. “They usually have the home office doing the social media checks and other searches because the primary role of the consultant in the courtroom is to listen and watch the jurors and give feedback to the lawyers.”

Sometimes the background checks of potential jurors are being done even before the questioning begins, Dimitrius said.

“Generally on the morning of jury selection you get a list of potential jurors,” she said. “So we will take an iPhone photo of the list and send it back to the office where they’ll start their searches.”

Tampa-based jury consultant Michael Boucher of TCS, who has worked on a number of high-profile cases in New York City, like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s failed libel case versus the New York Times, echoed Dimitrius.

“In a case like this, we would set up a laptop on the podium and use a messaging app to stay in contact with the lawyers questioning the jurors,” Boucher said. “Not only are you feeding the lawyer information, you are finding on the jurors online, you’re trying to help guide the lawyer asking the questions. Lawyers, at times, sometimes get too far into the weeds and they need assistance so they can come up with follow-up questions.”

At the same time, Boucher said, “We’re watching the reactions of the other jurors waiting to be questioned and feeding that information to our legal team. That way, when the next potential juror steps up we already have a sense of where they stand.”

Boucher said in his experience Manhattan jury pools tend to be sophisticated, well-educated and thoughtful. But cases involving polarizing figures like Trump or Palin “sometime attract what we call 'motivated jurors,' with strong feelings either for or against" them.

“It’s very hard to find anybody who doesn’t have an opinion about Trump,” he said.

NBC News Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos, an attorney who practices in New York and elsewhere, agreed.

“In virtually every other case in the world, there’s not a strong chance that the jurors have tweeted about the defendant or posted on social media," Cevallos said. "This is the rare one-in-a-million case where there’s a good chance all of us have retweeted or tweeted something about Donald Trump."

Renato Stabile, managing director at Dubin Research & Consulting in New York City, said the ability to track social media has revolutionized the way juries get picked — and how jury consultants do their jobs.

“Before you just had to rely on what jurors said in court, and I think lawyers depended a lot more on their experience and gut, and maybe unfortunately, stereotypes that were either correct or incorrect and their past experience," Stabile said. "Now you just get such a better sense of what jurors are really all about based on the articles they’re liking, what they’re reposting."

Examining social media is "probably the most important part of jury selection,” said David Oscar Markus, a criminal defense attorney who, among others, successfully defended former Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum against charges of lying to the FBI .

“Lots of folks will come into court and say, ‘Yes, of course, I can be fair,’ or, ‘I have feelings about this one way or the other, but I can put all those aside and give the prosecution and defense a fair shake'," Markus said. "But then, once you see posts, even if they’re old posts, they reveal sort of the jurors’ true feelings.”

Lisa Rubin and Corky Siemaszko reported from New York City, Megan Lebowitz reported from Washington, D.C.

Lisa Rubin is an MSNBC legal correspondent and a former litigator.

Megan Lebowitz is a politics reporter for NBC News.

Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.