As with any part of India, Maharashtra is a study in contradictions. The financial capital of the one of the fast growing economies in the world is in the state, as is one of the highest rates of farmer suicides that India has ever known. The juxtaposition of the excesses of Bollywood along side one of the world's largest slums dwelling in Dharavi is oft-mentioned. In fact, for decades, writers and filmmakers have explored the dichotomy that exists in the city of Mumbai, and by extension the state of Maharashtra. What will Maharashtra look like in 10 or 15 years? How will Mumbai accommodate all of the estimated nearly 29 million people that are expected to live in the Greater Mumbai Area by 2025? These are questions that worry the policymakers and the citizens of the state.

In terms of agriculture, the state of Maharashtra has some truly frightening indicators. The state has one of the highest farmer suicide rates in the country. P. Sainath, senior journalist, has estimated that some 34,000 farmers killed themselves between 1997 and 2009. Excessive industrialization, soil erosion and land degradation have led to diminishing soil fertility in the state, leading farmers to use increasing amounts of chemical aids like fertilizer and pesticides to bolster their crop. This in turn has further diminished the ability of the soil to regenerate, leading to a vicious cycle that the farmers can not escape. Presently, agriculture only contributes 11% of the state's total revenue. Rising food insecurity in the state is fed by agricultural land acquisition for purposes of industry. These dire set of circumstances have led to a large scale exodus away from the rural areas of Maharashtra into the urban centres of the state, placing added pressure on the already overstretched urban infrastructure.

Other important sources of income, such as the fisheries sector, do not seem to be faring much better. The combined impact of intensive fishing, the use of trawlers, unchecked development along coastal areas, rising pollution and climate change has severely affected the fishing community of Maharashtra. The average size of a Pomfret in Mumbai has decreased from 400 gm in 1990 to 125 gm in 2010. Estimates suggest that at the current rate, the state's fish stock will be depleted by 2040. There are over 800,000 fishermen in the state, along with millions of other that make a living off allied industries, such as selling and processing of the fish, not to mention the restaurant industry that will also be hit hard. This population is unlikely to recover if that estimate is proven true. 

Meanwhile, basics such as education and healthcare also lag behind, with most of the population being underserved. The Indian Education Development Index (EDI) is based on factors such as access to education, infrastructure, and teachers in the Indian states. The EDI placed Maharashtra in the fifteenth position in 2008-2009 among 30 states in the country. In rural Maharashtra, the quality of and access to education is particularly poor. Only a quarter of the villages in Maharashtra have high schools, i.e. those with classes above Standard 7. The drop out ratio in the state is 50% and the student to teacher ratio stands at 1:53 in the state. 

Being the largest city in India, and having the largest concentration of people in the state, one would expect the city of Mumbai to be well prepared for medical emergencies. However, as evidenced by the monsoon season of 2010, where the city was completely taken aback by high rates of water-borne diseases, Mumbai is not even close to being prepared in the event of a large scale epidemic. In particular, the poorest among the city have extremely limited access to any medical care, let alone quality medical care. Nearly 55% of the city's population resides in slums, while another 25% lives in chawls (low cost urban housing) and on footpaths. For this section of the population, there are less than 15,000 beds available in Mumbai's hospital. Moreover, the city does not seem to have any concrete plans to alter this status quo. 

What has been presented above is simply a snapshot of the problems facing the state. While there are several positives that can be considered, it would be hubris to assume that those could in any way balance out the litany of issues that are sure to continue to plague the state in the next decade or so. Overall, it is safe to say that while Maharashtra urbanizes and industrializes at a rapid pace, those that seem to be getting wealthier and happier are still a very small section of the population. For everyone else, it seems that the news keeps going from bad to worse.