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Niraj Pandit

Articles by Niraj Pandit

When a city turns rogue for walkers

While several infrastructure and construction projects have turned the city inside out, the lack of pragmatic urban planning to align with the steady influx of people into a city where dreams come true has led to small businesses spilling on to the streets. Together, they hold up the mirror to rampant civic apathy

BMC commissioner and administrator, Iqbal Chahal, in his budget speech had repackaged the pedestrian first policy and promised that this year BMC will map the footpath facilities for all major roads over nine-meter width, as also places where footpaths were absent or in a sorry state. Chahal had also promised to fast-track new cement concrete footpaths for ease of walking (HT Photos)

cities

Updated on Mar 21, 2023 02:36 AM IST

ByJeet Mashru, Niraj Pandit, Shashank Rao and Sajana Nambiar, Mumbai

Mumbai Univ budget sets aside ₹50 lakh to celebrate G-20

Mumbai: The University of Mumbai (MU) in its annual budget has made a provision of ₹50 lakh each towards the celebration of the International Year of Millets and the G-20 presidency

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Published on Mar 21, 2023 12:52 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Chef Vishnu Manohar to improve midday meals

reports published over the last few years have pointed out that the body mass index (BMI) of students is either low or high. The central government has also instructed states to examine the possibility of including locally available food items, cereals etc

Pune, India - July 16, 2019: Vishnu Manohar at Vishnuji ki rasoi, DP road in Pune, India, on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. (Photo by Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

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Published on Mar 18, 2023 12:47 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Investigate my son’s death as a murder, Darshan Solanki’s father tells Powai police

The family agreed to come on Thursday, and arrived in the afternoon but went to Powai police station first. “They are in the Crime Branch Unit 10 offices in Andheri East, and the SIT has been recording their statement,” said a crime branch official

Mumbai, India - March 16, 2023: Ramesh Solanki, father of 18-year-old Dalit student Darshan Solanki who died by suicide on February 12 inside IIT-Bombay, seeking justice reaches Powai Police Station to request them to file FIR against unknown person and investigate the matter, at Powai, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, March 16, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Satish Bate/HT PHOTO)

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Published on Mar 17, 2023 12:37 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

MU gets its maths wrong in maths exam; gives 115 marks out of 100

Mumbai: The University of Mumbai has given students 115 marks out of possible 100 marks in its BSc mathematics exam

cities

Published on Mar 16, 2023 01:09 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

As they face their darkest hour, help pours in for evacuated Appa Pada families

Local organisations, as well as popular social media pages are coming forward to help these evacuated families of Appa Pada. While Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been providing food, shelter, clothes and other medical help, Mumbaikars are coming forward to help the victims of the fire in any way they can

Mumbai, India - Mar 14, 2023 : Pictures from Malad's Appa Pada area where nearly 800 homes were destroyed after a Massive fire broke out on March 13, Killing 1, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, Mar 14, 2023.(Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

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Published on Mar 16, 2023 01:08 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit and Jeet Mashru

Day after the fire: satchels, school books and board dreams buried in Appa Pada’s debris

In addition to destroying their homes, the massive fire that gutted over 3000 hutments at Appa Pada in Malad east on Monday, is also derailing the examinations. On Tuesday morning when HT reached Appa Pada, it was to find several students scouring through the ash and the debris of what was their homes to retrieve their text books and satchels

cities

Published on Mar 15, 2023 01:06 AM IST

ByJeet Mashru and Niraj Pandit

Institute-MU dispute delays release of degree certificates for 350 students

Even two years after they completed their BSc at Institute of Forensic Science (IFS), Colaba, nearly 350 students are still caught in the crossfire between the college administration and University of Mumbai over their degree certificates

cities

Published on Mar 15, 2023 12:50 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

‘IIT-B student’s roommates reduced talking after knowing about rank’

“The senior student submitted his written statement to the 12-member panel which was appointed to investigate Solanki’s death, but not a single line mentioned this written statement,” said a student representative from the institute.

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Published on Mar 14, 2023 12:47 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Most SC/ST students at IIT-B wary of mentioning caste on campus: Report

The institute has 388 SC/ST students. Of these, nearly one-third do not feel comfortable openly discussing their caste identity on campus, according to a draft report of a survey conducted by IIT Bombay’s SC-ST student cell last year.

Mumbai, India - February 20, 2023: Posse of policemen deployed outside IIT Bombay after students protest seeking justice for 18-year-old Dalit student Darshan Solanki, who died by suicide on February 12 inside IIT Bombay, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, February 20, 2023. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

cities

Updated on Mar 13, 2023 05:07 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

IIT-B alumni questions credibility of interim report on Solanki’s death

Singh is also mobilising IIT alumni and faculty for SC/ST welfare and also written emails to the IIT-Bombay administration, convenors of SC/ST Students Cell in IIT Bombay, minister of education, the higher education secretary, UGC chairman, and directors of various IITs, and the IIT council board

Darshan Solanki was a chemical engineering student at IIT-Bombay who died by suicide on February 12. It has since been alleged from various quarters that Darshan was pushed to take his own life due to harassment he may have faced on account of his caste. To investigate, a 12-member Interim Inquiry Committee was appointed by IIT-Bombay under the chairmanship of professor Nand Kishore, department of chemistry, IIT-B, on February 13. (Satish Bate/HT Photo)

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Published on Mar 10, 2023 12:48 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

‘No surprises’: IIT-B professor on interim report in Darshan Solanki’s death

The letter, written by a faculty member, professor Sharmila, which is critical of the report, has become a much-discussed topic within the campus.

An IIT-B committee which is investigating Solanki’s death submitted its interim report on this matter to the college administration on March 6.

cities

Updated on Mar 09, 2023 04:38 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

IIT-B student died by suicide, no caste bias: Interim Inquiry Report

“His perceived poor academic performance must have seriously affected him,” states the report. “After exploring various possible factors, it appears that the tragic incident was a case of suicide.”

Meanwhile, Darshan’s father, Ramesh Solanki, told HT, “This report was expected as the institute investigated this matter with prejudice in mind. All committee members are internal, There are no independent committee members. We are not happy with this report as myself and my brother told the committee members about Darshan facing caste discrimination, but they are not reported at this point.” (HT PHOTO)

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Published on Mar 08, 2023 01:21 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

IIT-Bombay ‘suicide’: Interim report rules out casteism against Dalit student

The student, a native of Ahmedabad, had also performed poorly in the second half of the autumn semester (January onwards) and must have been affected by his results, the report added.

cities

Updated on Mar 07, 2023 04:36 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

No one is answering me, claims IIT-B student’s father

The protest was called by former Rajya Sabha MP and educationist Bhalchandra Mungekar at Azad Maidan on Saturday.

“Darshan was brilliant from a young age. Living on daily wages, we didn’t even know what IIT was. But he found out about it on the internet and he was determined to get into it. He could not clear in his first attempt, so he dropped a year. He fulfilled his dream of taking the entrance exam again. But we didn’t think his dream would take such a turn,” said Ramesh, teary-eyed. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

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Published on Mar 05, 2023 01:28 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

MSBSHSE fouls up, allots more students at exam centres than intake capacity

A total of 3.54 lakh students from the MSBSHSE’s Mumbai division, which includes Mumbai city and suburbs, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad, are appearing for the Class 10 exams.

A Chembur-based school with a seating capacity of 250 students was allotted 500 students for the Class 10 examinations. The principal was finally forced to start online classes for the school’s regular students from Classes 1 to 9 and take over a primary section to accommodate all the examinees. A similar situation has been observed in many other Mumbai schools, and teachers’ unions have expressed their displeasure in this regard. (HT PHOTO)

cities

Published on Mar 05, 2023 01:25 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

St Xavier’s students recreate ‘Kabhi Kabhi Aditi’ song, win accolades

A group of students at St Xavier’s College, Dhobi Talao, has recreated the hit song ‘Kabhi Kabhi Aditi’ from the movie ‘Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na’, which was shot on the campus, prominently featuring the college’s galleries, hallways and the iconic central quadrangle

cities

Published on Mar 02, 2023 01:48 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

City Kolis express fears about their vanishing dialect

Mumbai: The Mumbai Marathi Granth Sangrahalaya in Dadar is currently featuring an exhibition of the literature of over 50 dialects of Maharashtra

cities

Published on Mar 01, 2023 01:21 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

E-cigarettes, the dangerous new addiction of the youth

E-cigarettes are the ostensibly innocuous siblings of regular cigarettes. Although touted as many things—a “safer” alternative, a weaning tool or handy at places where cigarette smoking is not allowed—e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is not only addictive but is also a highly toxic chemical that can adversely affect any organ of the body

cities

Published on Feb 27, 2023 01:55 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit & Manish Pathak

It takes a village: How residents of a Jalna taluka have united to stop a teacher’s transfer

When the school was set up on a small hill in 2004, it had two classrooms, sans doors and windows, with 15 students. Today the fully functional primary school has eight classrooms with 149 students. In the past, villagers who belong to the Banjara tribe, were on the move at all times, leading to frequent dropouts

In promoting education, Kude is looked upon as a reformer. As Chavan said, “There was no awareness in the village – no one thought about educating girls after Class V. Kude changed this mindset,” he said, emphasising that ‘beti bachao beto padhao’ became an ambition in the hamlet, way before it became a national slogan. (HT Photo)

cities

Published on Feb 25, 2023 12:47 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Colleges all set for ‘copy-free’ exams amid non-teaching staff strike

In Mumbai division, 3,44,744 students have registered for the exam – an increase by 30,000 as compared to last year.

Educational institutes, meanwhile, were also preparing to cope with conducting exams in the midst of a non-teaching staff strike. The strike is for various demands such as applying the Old Pension Scheme to post-2005 employees and applying the salary scale of the 7th Pay Commission, among others. (HT PHOTO)

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Updated on Feb 21, 2023 12:44 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Parliamentary SC/ST committee to discuss IIT-B suicide

The parliamentary standing committee for the welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/ST) has called a meeting on February 22 to discuss the recent suicide of 18-year-old Darshan Solanki at IIT-Bombay

cities

Published on Feb 19, 2023 01:54 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit, Mumbai

BMC schoolkids build Pico satellites to be launched at KARC

The kids’ adventure began when the BMC held an open examination, based on the science textbooks of Class 5 to Class 8, to select children for the satellite-building project

cities

Published on Feb 19, 2023 12:40 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Seven years later, fight against ‘lack of facilities’ for SC/ST students still on

Mumbai: Professor AK Suresh’s committee which was appointed to investigate the suicide of a student in 2014 at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), had talked about the lack of facilities for SC/ST students at the institute and what facilities should be created for them

cities

Updated on Feb 18, 2023 01:00 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Suicide on IIT-B campus: Athawale, Solankis demand probe; students’ body claims lack of institutional support

Three days after Darshan Solanki, an 18-year-old B.Tech student at IIT-Bombay allegedly died by suicide, on Wednesday, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale visited the campus and demanded a thorough probe into his death and the allegations of caste discrimination

Calling it a “serious incident”, Athawale said, “In 2014, a Dalit student ended his life in a similar way. Six months back, another student outside IIT-B died by suicide. Such incidents are increasing and require probe.” (HT Photo)

cities

Published on Feb 16, 2023 02:26 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit and Maulik Pathak

‘Faced caste discrimination’: Family of deceased IIT-Bombay student

The student died after he allegedly jumped off the eighth floor of his hostel building at the Powai campus of the institute on Sunday afternoon.

india news

Updated on Feb 16, 2023 04:24 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit and Maulik Pathak, Mumbai/ahmedabad

How schools and students are fighting bullies

Bullying is common in schools across the country. A 2019 survey conducted by The Teacher Foundation and Wipro Applying Thought in Schools (WATIS) in nine cities in India has shown 42% students between Classes 4 and 8 and 36% students between Classes 9 and 12 have experienced it

cities

Published on Feb 15, 2023 01:48 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

MU to have book on mapping Mumbai’s culture and diversity

Mumbai: So far, many books have been published about Mumbai

cities

Published on Feb 14, 2023 12:36 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

MU bags Indian patent for low-cost Colorimeter

It is a low-cost device to detect adulteration, which will be used in pathology, chemistry and life science laboratories.

It is used for measuring the transmittance and absorbance of light passing through a liquid sample. Hospitals and laboratories also use it for analysing biochemical samples such as urine, cerebrospinal fluids, plasma, biochemical samples, and serum. Because of this, the Colorimeter is of special importance in the field of science. (HT PHOTO)

cities

Published on Feb 11, 2023 12:39 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

Schools pull out all stops to ease students’ stress before boards

The techniques range from regular deep breathing to five minutes of meditation right before they begin writing an exam paper. Parents, on their part, are taught ways to reduce their children’s stress

cities

Published on Feb 09, 2023 12:53 AM IST

ByNiraj Pandit

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Niraj Pandit

Mumbai: The University of Mumbai (MU) in its annual budget has made a provision of ₹50 lakh each towards the celebration of the International Year of Millets and the G-20 presidency

reports published over the last few years have pointed out that the body mass index (BMI) of students is either low or high. The central government has also instructed states to examine the possibility of including locally available food items, cereals etc

The family agreed to come on Thursday, and arrived in the afternoon but went to Powai police station first. “They are in the Crime Branch Unit 10 offices in Andheri East, and the SIT has been recording their statement,” said a crime branch official

Mumbai: The University of Mumbai has given students 115 marks out of possible 100 marks in its BSc mathematics exam

Even two years after they completed their BSc at Institute of Forensic Science (IFS), Colaba, nearly 350 students are still caught in the crossfire between the college administration and University of Mumbai over their degree certificates

“The senior student submitted his written statement to the 12-member panel which was appointed to investigate Solanki’s death, but not a single line mentioned this written statement,” said a student representative from the institute.

The institute has 388 SC/ST students. Of these, nearly one-third do not feel comfortable openly discussing their caste identity on campus, according to a draft report of a survey conducted by IIT Bombay’s SC-ST student cell last year.

Singh is also mobilising IIT alumni and faculty for SC/ST welfare and also written emails to the IIT-Bombay administration, convenors of SC/ST Students Cell in IIT Bombay, minister of education, the higher education secretary, UGC chairman, and directors of various IITs, and the IIT council board

The letter, written by a faculty member, professor Sharmila, which is critical of the report, has become a much-discussed topic within the campus.

“His perceived poor academic performance must have seriously affected him,” states the report. “After exploring various possible factors, it appears that the tragic incident was a case of suicide.”

The student, a native of Ahmedabad, had also performed poorly in the second half of the autumn semester (January onwards) and must have been affected by his results, the report added.

The protest was called by former Rajya Sabha MP and educationist Bhalchandra Mungekar at Azad Maidan on Saturday.

A total of 3.54 lakh students from the MSBSHSE’s Mumbai division, which includes Mumbai city and suburbs, Thane, Palghar, and Raigad, are appearing for the Class 10 exams.

A group of students at St Xavier’s College, Dhobi Talao, has recreated the hit song ‘Kabhi Kabhi Aditi’ from the movie ‘Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na’, which was shot on the campus, prominently featuring the college’s galleries, hallways and the iconic central quadrangle

Mumbai: The Mumbai Marathi Granth Sangrahalaya in Dadar is currently featuring an exhibition of the literature of over 50 dialects of Maharashtra

In Mumbai division, 3,44,744 students have registered for the exam – an increase by 30,000 as compared to last year.

The parliamentary standing committee for the welfare of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SC/ST) has called a meeting on February 22 to discuss the recent suicide of 18-year-old Darshan Solanki at IIT-Bombay

The kids’ adventure began when the BMC held an open examination, based on the science textbooks of Class 5 to Class 8, to select children for the satellite-building project

Mumbai: Professor AK Suresh’s committee which was appointed to investigate the suicide of a student in 2014 at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B), had talked about the lack of facilities for SC/ST students at the institute and what facilities should be created for them

Three days after Darshan Solanki, an 18-year-old B.Tech student at IIT-Bombay allegedly died by suicide, on Wednesday, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale visited the campus and demanded a thorough probe into his death and the allegations of caste discrimination

The student died after he allegedly jumped off the eighth floor of his hostel building at the Powai campus of the institute on Sunday afternoon.

Bullying is common in schools across the country. A 2019 survey conducted by The Teacher Foundation and Wipro Applying Thought in Schools (WATIS) in nine cities in India has shown 42% students between Classes 4 and 8 and 36% students between Classes 9 and 12 have experienced it

Mumbai: So far, many books have been published about Mumbai

It is a low-cost device to detect adulteration, which will be used in pathology, chemistry and life science laboratories.

The techniques range from regular deep breathing to five minutes of meditation right before they begin writing an exam paper. Parents, on their part, are taught ways to reduce their children’s stress

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