“We Will Not Drink Data, We Need Water”: Amazon’s 53-acre data centre project in Thane, Mumbai, is facing backlash from local residents over environmental and infrastructure concerns.

Residents from Balkum and Majiwada have raised concerns about water consumption, electricity demand, noise pollution, backup generators and the potential loss of trees. They also question whether such a large facility belongs in a densely populated residential area near homes, schools and hospitals.

Amazon says the facility will use closed-loop cooling technology without consuming water for cooling and will have a dedicated power connection. The controversy highlights growing concerns about balancing India’s digital infrastructure expansion with residents’ environmental needs.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DeRjQSeCBur/

A safe classroom, a clean toilet, a fan during summer and access to better learning facilities are not luxuries. They are basic rights every child deserves.

Through The Happy School Project, Maitreyi Jichkar, daughter of Dr Shrikant Jichkar, has been working to transform government schools by improving infrastructure and creating spaces where children can learn with dignity and confidence.

From repairing classrooms to upgrading sanitation and digital facilities, the initiative has helped transform over 100 schools, proving that better learning begins with a better place to learn.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc_pyqFCMa6/

Bengaluru Man Anmol Garg's observation has sparked a larger debate about life in India’s metro cities: doing a 9-hour job you don't like may be difficult, but spending another 3 hours every day just travelling to and from work can make it even worse.

In cities like Bengaluru, Gurugram, Mumbai and Delhi, long daily commutes have become part of working life for millions.

Poor road infrastructure, traffic congestion, limited public transport connectivity and the growing distance between affordable housing and employment hubs often force people to spend hours on the road every day.

That commute is not just lost travel time. It means less time with family, less time for health, rest, learning or personal life.

Someone spending 3 hours commuting every working day can lose 15 hours a week effectively another part-time workday just getting to and from their job.

A 25-year-old woman and her newborn baby died after childbirth at the government-run Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, triggering protests by the family and allegations of medical negligence. The hospital administration has suspended two nursing officers and constituted a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

The woman, identified as Kalpana Mishra, a resident of the Mangawan area, was admitted to the hospital on August 25 for delivery. According to reports, she underwent a surgical delivery on the evening of August 26. She gave birth to a baby, but both the mother and newborn died shortly afterwards. The exact cause of the deaths is yet to be established and is expected to be examined through the post-mortem and inquiry reports.

What is more disturbing is that prior to her death, a distressing video had gone viral showing the woman pleading with her family to take her away from there. In the footage, she is seen leaving the ward and pleading with her family for help. She is heard asking them to take her away from the hospital, expressing fear over the treatment she was receiving.

The deaths led to an angry protest outside the hospital, with family members accusing the medical staff of negligence, delayed treatment and alleged misbehaviour.

The family has also raised questions over the administration of anaesthesia, alleging that an overdose may have contributed to the deaths. Officials said the alleged anaesthesia overdose is among the issues being examined by the inquiry committee.

The family subsequently gathered at the hospital's main gate and demanded action against those responsible. They also sought action against the doctor on duty, besides the nursing staff.

Following discussions lasting around two hours between the family and senior hospital officials, the medical college administration suspended two nursing officers who were on duty. A five-member committee has also been formed to examine the treatment provided to Kalpana and determine whether there was any lapse.

The bodies of Kalpana and her newborn were also subjected to post-mortem examinations by a medical panel to help establish the cause of death. According to hospital officials, the investigation report and post-mortem findings will determine whether anyone was responsible for the deaths.

Mangawan MLA Narendra Prajapati visited the hospital after learning about the incident and met the grieving family. He also held discussions with hospital officials and assured the family that action would be taken if anyone was found responsible.

Hospital officials, meanwhile, have maintained that Kalpana was treated according to medical protocol and that allegations of negligence by doctors will be examined as part of the inquiry.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/city/rewa-hospital-woman-newborn-death-viral-video-article-156001404

Maharashtra FDA has issued show cause notices to Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan and Tiger Shroff over a Vimal Elaichi advertisement. The regulator says the campaign may amount to surrogate promotion of the banned Vimal Pan Masala as its wider crackdown continues.

source: https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/story/maharashtra-fda-notice-shah-rukh-khan-ajay-devgn-tiger-shroff-vimal-elaichi-pan-masala-ad-2972265-2026-08-16

Techie Uses Codex to Detect Potholes and Automatically Find the Responsible Contractor : His Dashcam-Based App Uses AI to Identify Potholes, Pinpoint Their Location and Search 2,900 Government Contracts to Find the Contractor Responsible for Repairs.

Using a dashcam, GPS and accelerometer data, he built an app with Codex that detects potholes in different sizes and records their exact locations.

The system then scans thousands of BBMP contracts to identify which contractor is responsible for the damaged road.

The app can reportedly generate a complaint with the pothole photo, geolocation, tender number and responsible officer in around four seconds.

During one drive to work, the system detected 12 potholes, highlighting how AI could turn everyday driving data into actionable civic complaints.

A disturbing video from a Western Railway local train in Mumbai has sparked outrage after a male commuter was caught on camera abusing a woman passenger and allegedly attempting to assault her with his trouser belt. The altercation reportedly happened over her sleeping on a train seat.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/mumbai/mumbai-local-woman-attacked-belt-threat-coach-looks-away-video-article-155361571

A new public fund to boost India’s deep-tech ambitions in the private sector has approved, in its first round, Rs 2,192 crore in soft loans to 22 private companies at the cutting edge of space science, energy tech and pharma, among others. These companies were chosen from 124 applicants by a 12-member panel, including 11 established names in private equity and technology, and a non-voting government representative. The credentials of each company are well-established.

There’s one question mark, though.

An investigation by The Indian Express has found that of the 22 recipients of public money, 15 have investment ties to seven members of the selection committee, raising questions of conflict of interest and propriety. These together got over Rs 1,377 crore. Nine of the firms are linked to the chairman of the selection panel, the founder of an angel investing network who also has a personal stake in at least one of the companies selected.

These members are part of the Investment Committee of the Technology Development Board (TDB), one of the two organisations under the Ministry of Science and Technology entrusted with picking firms for the Rs 1-lakh-crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund launched in November 2025.

When contacted, the seven panel members denied any impropriety and said the fund’s guidelines forbid them from participating in the evaluation process in situations of conflict of interest. They said they had communicated their interests to the Government in advance and, as required under the guidelines, recused themselves from decisions concerning firms linked to them.

However, this issue was flagged in Parliament by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Praveen Chakravarty. In a written reply submitted on July 30, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh listed the names of the seven members who had disclosed financial interest in companies selected for funding.

Since it was not specifically asked, the Union Minister’s reply did not detail the nature or extent of their investments. The next day, the Department of Science and Technology clarified that the selections were done “purely on merit” and that there was “zero involvement of any conflicted members during the evaluation or sanction process of concerned proposals”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Chakravarty suggested that “perhaps, the committee to fund R&D in deep tech can comprise mainly of scientists, academics and others with no for-profit indulgences”. “Commercial viability and financial evaluation can always be received from experts external to the committee,” the MP said, adding that “the optics is as important as the intent”.

Consider the findings from Registrar of Companies (RoC) and Parliament records, and information posted on official company websites about the selection committee members, and the selected firms linked to them:

1. Saurabh Srivastava, former chairman of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) & IVCA (Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association), and co-founder of Indian Angel Network (IAN) Group, an investment firm.

Srivastava chairs the 12-member Investment Committee (IC) of the TDB. RoC records and IAN’s website show he is linked to most number of companies on the list, with a personal stake of 0.75 per cent in Noccarc Robotics, Pune, for which Rs 11.41 crore was approved from the RDI Fund. Consider this:

Noccarc Robotics, Pune: Funded initially and later by IAN Group; VISTRA ITCL (India), a trustee for IAN Fund, holds 44.05% stake; Srivastava is a director in Noccarc and has a personal stake of 0.75% in the company.

EndureAir Systems, Noida (RDI Fund Rs 30.01 cr): 2.35% held by Foundation for Innovation & Research in Science & Technology (FIRST), IIT-Kanpur, as of March 2025; Srivastava is a director in FIRST. Also funded by IAN Fund.

BigEndian Semiconductors, Bengaluru (RDI Fund Rs 130 cr): IAN Fund.

e-TRNL Energy, Mumbai (RDI Fund Rs 94 cr): IAN Fund.

Dhruva Space, Hyderabad (RDI Fund Rs 105 cr): IAN; Srivastava holds one preference share.

Astrome Technologies, Bengaluru (RDI Fund Rs 64.05 cr): IAN Group holds 1,501 shares through Vistra ITCL and IAN Services as of November 2025.

Peptris Technologies, Bengaluru (RDI Fund Rs 86 cr): IAN Fund.

Serigen Mediproducts, Pune (RDI Fund Rs 20 cr): IAN (5 preference shares); IAN Alpha Fund (1,004 preference shares).

Manastu Space Technologies, Thane (RDI Fund Rs 116 cr): IAN Services (67 preference shares).

>“The IC (Investment Committee) comprises professionals from industry with a background in technology and investing…In such a situation, conflict of interest is not unexpected, not so much from IC members having invested in a company but from investments made by Funds where they are members. In all such cases, the rules are very clear: the concerned IC member must recuse himself/ herself. This is recorded in the meetings,” Srivastava said.

2. K R S Jamwal, who retired this year as Executive Director of Tata Industries, has links to seven of the selected companies. RoC records show they include:

Tejas Networks, Bengaluru (RDI Fund Rs 250 cr): A Tata Group company. Jamwal was Executive Director of Tata Industries till June 2026.

Manastu Space Technologies, Thane (RDI Fund Rs 116 cr): 67 preference shares.

ThinkMetal, Chennai (RDI Fund Rs 6.7 cr): 53 preference shares.

Parliament records show Jamwal has also disclosed interests in EndureAir Systems, BigEndian Semiconductors, Peptris Technologies and Noccarc Robotics. “I even recused myself from the Tejas Networks evaluation meeting and decision as I was then ED, Tata Industries, even though no financial stakes were involved either in my personal or professional capacities,” Jamwal said

3. Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds, holds 33 preference shares in Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos, which was picked for Rs 200 crore under the RDI Fund.

>“The rules on this are pretty elaborate and stringent. Members not just have to disclose their interests in companies that have applied for funding, but even in their rival companies — standards that are above and beyond typical ICs in the industry,” Srinivasan said.

4. Sudhir Mehta, Founder and Chairman, Pinnacle Industries and EKA Mobility, disclosed interests in Pune-based Replus Engitech (RDI Fund Rs 42.75 cr).

>“These kinds of conflict of interest situations are not unusual. We encounter these all the time, in banks, corporate world or financial institutions… The standard procedure in such situations is full disclosure and mandatory recusal. This is what has happened in the case of RDI Fund as well. Transparency is important,” Mehta said.

5. Sanjay Nayak is co-founder and former CEO of Bengaluru-based Tejas Networks (RDI Fund Rs 250 cr), and an independent director on the board of Bengaluru-based Ather Energy (RDI Fund Rs 211.89 cr). “The best people in the deep-tech ecosystem would obviously be connected to this ecosystem…There are adequate safeguards, adequate protection for public money, at the same time it (the fund) is focused on creation of a strong deep-tech ecosystem,” Nayak said.

6. Anand Deshpande, Chairman, Persistent Systems, holds 65 preference shares in Pune-based Serigen Mediproducts (RDI Fund Rs 20 cr). “There is no perfect system. But very clean processes have already been put in place. All of us understand conflicts of interest, and everyone is extremely conscious of this,” Deshpande said.

7. Debashish Bhattacharjee, former Vice President (Technology and R&D), Tata Steel, and Managing Partner, Lionstead Ventures, has disclosed interests in Hyderabad-based NeoSeeker Metals (RDI Fund Rs 10 cr), Parliament records show.

>“As far as conflict of interest is concerned, I think it is important to ensure that the process is not just fair but is also seen to be fair. And I think that the detailed guidelines on this that have been put in place, and which are followed strictly in letter and spirit, do take care of this aspect,” Bhattacharjee said.

Rajya Sabha MP Chakravarty said: “I am not casting any aspersions on anyone, and I am not saying some wrongdoing has happened here. My only concern is institutional robustness… I fully back the idea of the Government having to fund R&D in cutting edge tech. This is not a financial investment programme but a strategic public goods initiative using public money. So it is extremely important to get the processes right.”

According to Chakravarty, “conflict of interest situations arise pretty often, and are dealt with through disclosure and recusal” in the corporate world. “But there has to be a distinction between the corporate world and public money. Dealing with public money requires additional set of guardrails. What is adequate for corporate world may not be good enough for public policy. An initiative like this should not only conform to the highest levels of transparency but seen to be conforming too,” he said.

The seven remaining private firms with no links to the investment committee are: Eyestem Research, Bengaluru (RDI Fund Rs 125 crore); Ubifly Technologies, Mumbai (RDI Fund Rs 285 crore); QuNu Labs, Bengaluru (RDI Fund Rs 150 crore); Galaxeye Space Solutions, Chennai (RDI Fund Rs 63.84 crore); Multi Nano Sense Technologies, Bengaluru (RDI Fund Rs 37.51 crore); ideaForge Technology, Thane (RDI Fund Rs 151 crore); Endimension Technology, Mumbai (RDI Fund Rs 3 crore).

The other members of the TDB committee are: Lalithesh Katragadda, Founder, Indihood Swarja Lab and co-founder Avanti Finance; Bala C Deshpande, Founder Partner of MegaDelta Capital; Jaswinder Ahuja, Former Corporate VP and India MD, Cadence Design Systems; Sudhir Sethi, Chairman, Chiratae Ventures; Secretary, Technology Board (ex-officio, non-voting).

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/government-tech-fund-goes-to-private-firms-linked-to-panel-that-selected-them-10821494/

Youtube: https://youtu.be/rzL2Wstogpw?si=OGRXLCBntXGFCs6P

The reality on the ground

Infrastructure gaps are still large. Of India's over 14.71 lakh schools, 1.52 lakh lack functional electricity, and 67,000 schools — 46,000 of them government-run — lack functional toilets. Only 43.5% of government schools have computers for teaching, compared to 70.9% of private unaided schools, and disabled-friendly toilets exist in just 33.2% of government schools.

Teacher shortages persist. India still has nearly a lakh (100,000) single-teacher schools, and many government schools lack subject-specific teachers, especially in middle school grades.

Enrollment is shifting away from government schools even as private options strain family budgets: the proportion of children in government schools fell from 72.9% in 2022 to 66.8% in 2024, partly because parents believe private schools offer better discipline, stronger English instruction, and greater accountability, and because families that had moved to government schools during pandemic-era financial stress are returning to private ones as incomes recover.

But learning outcomes are actually improving, and faster in government schools than private ones. This is the more hopeful part of the picture. Class 3 government-school students able to read a Class 2-level text improved from 16.3% in 2022 to 23.4% in 2024, and between 2022 and 2024, government schools saw subtraction proficiency in Standard 3 rise 36.6% (from 20.2% to 27.6%), versus just 10.2% growth in private schools — the strongest recovery in reading and arithmetic in a decade. Analysts largely credit NEP 2020's focus on foundational literacy and numeracy for this shift.

But the base remains low. 76.6% of Class 3 students still cannot read a Class 2-level text, and 66.3% of Class 3 and 70% of Class 5 students cannot do basic arithmetic.

Inequality compounds it all. Schools in poorer areas are typically underfunded and lack both basic infrastructure and quality teachers, widening the gap between disadvantaged children and everyone else. Sleepy Classes

The bottom line There's a real tension between the two halves of this story: nominal budgets keep rising and learning outcomes in government schools are genuinely improving faster than in private ones — a rare positive signal. But money that's promised often isn't fully spent, basic infrastructure (electricity, toilets, computers, teachers) is still missing in a meaningful share of schools, and government schools are losing enrollment share to a growing perception — not always matched by outcomes — that private schools are better. Education still gets a fairly modest slice (around 2.6%) of the total central budget relative to the scale of the challenge.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DblbGQOBgzI/

Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has defended the crackdown on several popular restaurants over hygiene violations, saying the regulator is focused on ensuring food safety rather than carrying out routine checks.

During an interview with The Economic Times, when asked what was driving the notices served on prominent eateries for falling short of hygiene standards, Mundhe said his approach was not confined to merely doing the job assigned to him.

"My role is to regulate and ensure that safe food and safe drugs are available," he told ET, adding that everything produced in Maharashtra must meet norms and follow standards.

The restaurant notices form part of a broader push by the FDA under Mundhe to widen its enforcement footprint.

About Tukaram Mundhe
Tukaram Mundhe is a genuinely interesting case study in what disciplined, values-driven administration can look like.

What stands out about him is that he treats rules as non-negotiable regardless of who's asking. His pattern from his very first posting has held for two decades. He shut down an illegal bar owned by a local politician within days of joining service in Solapur, and he's kept applying that same standard ever since across more than 25 postings, enforcing attendance, eliminating illegal operations, and introducing digital transparency measures. That consistency, not bending for one type of violator while cracking down on another, is rarer than it should be in any institution.

He's also willing to pay a real personal cost for it. Over 19 plus years in service, he has faced 23 transfers, making him one of the most frequently transferred IAS officers in India. Frequent transfers in the Indian bureaucracy are a well known punishment mechanism for officers who refuse to play along with local power structures. He's kept doing the same thing anyway.

He goes after entrenched, high stakes problems rather than easy wins. His current mandate is a good example. As Commissioner of Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration since May 2026, he's turned it into an enforcement focused agency, launching a major crackdown on milk adulteration, banned tobacco products, and safety violations across the state's entire dairy supply chain, bringing dairies, transporters, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers under stricter scrutiny. That's not a symbolic gesture. Food adulteration affects public health at massive scale and usually persists precisely because it's inconvenient to tackle.

It's not only bluster either. He's received the Best Collector Award from the Maharashtra government, and as Collector of Jalna, he resolved a stalled water project, bringing water from Jayakwadi to Jalna far faster than expected. He's also received the National Award for Social Justice and Empowerment.

Despite the strict image, he stays accessible. He's seen as a people's officer who listens to grievances, ensures transparency, and works to strengthen public trust in governance. The toughness isn't paired with distance from the public.

The origin story backs up the substance. He began helping his farming family with manual labor from age eight, doing fencing, well digging, sowing, and selling produce at markets, and he failed the state civil services exam three times before clearing it in 2001, then went on to secure All India Rank 20 in the UPSC exam. That's a track record of absorbing failure and pushing through it, which tends to produce a very different relationship with pressure than a smoother path does.

As for why people like him are needed in other sectors, the traits that define him aren't really government specific. They're a general profile that most institutions are chronically short of. Rule enforcement without favoritism matters everywhere, since private companies lose enormous value to internal politics where policy gets selectively applied based on who's asking. Someone with this mindset in compliance, audit, or quality control doesn't let a big client or a senior executive's pet project skip the safety check.

Willingness to be unpopular for the right reasons is another piece of it. Most organizational dysfunction persists because the person who could fix it also wants to keep their job and relationships intact. Someone who's demonstrably not optimizing for likability, evidenced by 23 transfers rather than smooth compliance, is a genuine asset in roles like internal audit, food and drug safety, financial risk, or any regulator facing function.

There's also a systems thinking element over individual heroics. His approach isn't catch one bad actor, it's restructuring supply chains and introducing digital transparency so the system itself resists corruption rather than depending on one vigilant person. That mindset is exactly what sectors like banking risk management, healthcare quality assurance, and engineering safety need.

Finally, there's resilience calibrated by early hardship. People who've had to push through real failure early, like his three failed exam attempts or the farm labor as a kid, often have a sturdier relationship with setbacks than people who haven't been tested that way, which matters in any high pressure, high stakes role.

Where this profile transfers well includes financial auditing and fraud investigation, food, drug, and environmental regulatory bodies whether private or public, corporate compliance and ethics functions, investigative journalism, and quality assurance in engineering or healthcare, basically anywhere an institution's credibility depends on someone being willing to say no to the powerful person in the room.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/why-only-private-eateries-after-bombay-hcs-query-fda-team-tukaram-mundhe-reaches-canteens-at-hc/articleshow/132802176.cms

https://www.ndtvprofit.com/india/tukaram-mundhe-explains-his-philosophy-as-fda-cracks-down-on-restaurants-my-role-is-to-11854815

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbfN71JRuDx

Apparently an X user posted that when he tried for a partial withdrawal of his PF from the online epfo portal, a 25-day delay meant the money came too late, and he lost a family member who desperately needed it.

This is the harsh, ugly truth of how our country works.

Regardless of the claim of this one story, the big fact remains: government systems fail us when we need them most.

PF is a lifeline. It is our backup cash for real emergencies, just like asset transfers or updating nominees.

But the system is so broken that during a crisis, we get useless error codes, crashing websites, and endless red tape.

It feels like it isn't even our money. It feels like the state is doing us a favor just letting us touch our own savings.

We pay 30–40% tax only to get terrible infrastructure, blatant corruption, and unusable digital tools.

Then leaders wonder why every hard-working Indian wants to pack up and leave.

Truth is, the government only cares about PR stunts and cheap drama that buy votes.

And yet, we proudly show off as the "largest democracy in the world."

A citizen losing a loved one because a government website failed isn't just a mistake—it is a complete failure of the state.

That shame alone is enough to kill patriotism in anyone.

We need a better India than this.

Being proud of India shouldn't be about startup hype or foreign capital. It must be about making an average citizen's life actually worth living.

Source: https://x.com/justaVictimepfo/status/2082785978251653290?s=20

Latest Post: https://x.com/justaVictimepfo/status/2083430587571003621?s=20