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,...
Pranab Mukherjee City administration is gearing up for mega-farm fair ‘Krishi Vasant’ at city. Senior administrative officers on Monday visited the spot, where the farm fair would be organised, and issued necessary directions. President of India Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the farm fair, which will be held at the Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Panjra on Wardha Road between February 9 and 13. During their joint inspection, Divisional Commissioner B V Gopala Reddy, Collector Saurabh Rao, Joint Commissioner of Police Sanjay Saxena, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Chandra Kishore Mina and Director of CICR Dr. Keshav Kranthi reached the spot on Monday afternoon and examined entire route. The senior officers also examined the main dais of the programme, proper parking place for President’s convoy and other VIP’s. Sources informed that around 5,000 invited persons will attend first day inauguration function including 2,500 farmers from across the coun...