Dweep Tulika

  From exposing broken roads and civic failures to facing criminal allegations over social-media posts, Pandit's arrest has raised questions about free expression, police procedure and the limits of online criticism Pune: For years, Santosh Gajanan Pandit built his public identity around a deceptively simple idea: point a camera at problems that citizens had learned to live with. A pothole. A damaged road. A broken drain. An alleged traffic violation. A civic project he believed had been poorly executed. Pandit recorded them, confronted officials and public representatives, posted the encounters online and, in some cases, returned repeatedly until the issue received attention. His approach turned ordinary civic complaints into highly visible social-media content. Now, the 48-year-old Pune activist and content creator is in judicial custody in connection with cases concerning allegedly obscene, sexually suggestive, abusive and defamatory content posted online. A Pune court re...

Mumbai | August 23, 2026 The Maharashtra government has intensified enforcement of its Marathi language requirement for autorickshaw, taxi and app-based cab drivers, with Regional Transport Office (RTO) teams conducting checks across the state. Under the latest enforcement drive, drivers are being assessed on their basic working knowledge of Marathi through a 16-question oral test based on situations they commonly encounter while working. Drivers who fail to demonstrate adequate proficiency are being issued notices and given one month to improve their language skills . Continued non-compliance could result in suspension of their driver badges. The enforcement follows a 105-day training and assessment programme . As of August 16, around 7,750 drivers had failed the proficiency test , while another 17,427 had not completed the required training . On the first day of the statewide checking drive, more than 8,200 drivers were assessed , with 1,268 issued notices for failing to me...