Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
Maharashtra Police officers are working hard to protect civilians in the ongoing civil strife in South Sudan, despite facing shortage of food By Dheeraj Fartode NAGPUR, July 16 THERE is war. There is peace. And, there is a situation called civil strife that does not fit into category of either war or peace. But, in all these situations, saviours assume a special significance for people. For the strife-stricken people of South Sudan, a team of Maharashtra Police is proving to be that bunch of angels, saviours. These angels are Sail Sheela, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP); Dr Sanjay Tungar, Vijay Pillewar, Gautam Pathare, Dhammapal Bansode, all Police Inspectors, are the officers who are serving in South Sudan under United Nations Peace-Keeping Mission. They are performing their duties almost round-the-clock, for, any incident can occur any time. This picture speaks volumes about the disturbance in South Sudan, as well as the risk of ...