MUMBAI: In a climb down from its earlier stand, the Maharashtra government has decided to allow theatre and multiplex owners to screen Marathi movies between noon and 9 pm, instead of its earlier order for 6 pm to 11.30 pm.

The decision came after Minister of School Education and Culture Vinod Tawde held a meeting with representatives of theatre and multiplex owners and Marathi producers. During the meeting, representatives of multiplex operators InoxBSE -0.49 % and PVR said they would be willing to show Marathi movies from noon to 9 pm.

Actor-producer Mahesh Kothari and Vijay Patkar, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal, who were present at the meeting, didn’t oppose the proposal.

Speaking later to ET, Patkar said, “We are very happy with this new formula as now Marathi films will not be shown in the morning. This arrangement will suit us perfectly.”

Professional social network operator LinkedIn Corp said it would buy privately held online education company lynda.com in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $1.5 billion.

LinkedIn said it would pay about 52 percent in cash and about 48 percent in stock.

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said his government would ‘very soon’ announce a relief package for the Delhi farmers whose crops were damaged due to untimely rain and hailstorm in March.

Meeting a delegation of AAP MLAs from rural Delhi, Kejriwal directed them to assure the farmers that the government was with them and would compensate their crop losses, said an AAP statement.

In the third case of an ‘insider’ involvement in gold smuggling at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) this year, Mumbai Airport Customs officials on Wednesday morning arrested two employees of Sky Gourmet Flight kitchen as they were attempting a series of gold retrievals from flights. Both the accused have admitted that they smuggled gold at least 30 times in the past, said Customs officials.

Based on the employees’ confession and inspection of their WhatsApp messages, 6.79 kg of gold worth Rs 1.65 crore was seized from four Jet Airways flights on Wednesday morning,” officials said.
The seizures included seven gold bars worth Rs19.18 lakh from a Dubai-Mumbai flight,12 gold bars worth Rs 34.85 lakh from an Abu Dhabi-Mumbai flight, 11 gold bars worth Rs 31.1 lakh from a Kuwait-Mumbai flight and 2 kg bars and 12 tola bars worth Rs 78.83 lakh from a Muscat-Mumbai flight.
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In all the cases, gold was concealed beneath the seat cushion and seat number was sent to the accused via Whatsapp.
“Abdul Razak Shaikh and Siraj Mohammed Sayed are employees of Sky Gourmet Flight Kitchen. Further, a search conducted at Sayed’s residence in Jari Mari also resulted in recovery of Rs 5.8 lakh,” said a Customs official.
After a short car chase, the receivers of the gold consignment were also arrested on Wednesday. Vijay Tamhanekar, was apprehended outside Hotel Hyatt, Sahar, and further receiver Shahabuddin CA was apprehended outside McDonalds restaurant, Andheri (East), officials said.
Customs’ driver stopped the vehicle of one of the fleeing accused in Andheri. “Our driver Allaudin tried to stop Tamhanekar’s car when he tried to flee and had to crash out official Tavera into the accused’s car to stop him,” said one of the Customs officials.
Last month, a Jet Airways attendant on a Dubai-Mumbai flight was caught trying to smuggle gold and diamonds worth Rs 1.06 crore at the Mumbai airport. While in February, Customs officials caught a passenger service assistant of Celebi Nas for acting as a carrier for gold worth Rs 1.5 crore.
In the past one year, around 13 ‘insiders’ were nabbed smuggling gold. “In the last six months, a lot of insiders were caught, but these rackets are tough to crack because not all of them go through Customs areas of the airport,” said Milind Lanjewar, Additional Commissioner of Customs.

Mumbai: Screening of Marathi films during the prime time slots of 6pm to 9pm in multiplexes has been made mandatory by Maharashtra government.
“We are in the process of enacting a law to make it mandatory for multiplexes to screen Marathi films during prime time,” Culture Minister Vinod Tawde said in his reply to a debate on preservation of historical forts, Marathi language and culture.
The Government is also preparing a short film on Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema, for screening in theatres, Tawde said, adding that it will be shown after national anthem.

Screening of the film on Phalke, too, will be made compulsory in the theatres, he said.
This will enable people to know that a Marathi-speaking person laid the foundation stone for Indian cinema, the Minister added.
Veteran author Shobha De said that the government should have been consulted stakeholders before making screening of Marathi movies mandatory and asked if the government is willing to give subsidy to multiplexes.
Mumbai being the financial capital of India has a mixed population and a good proportion of people are non-Marathi speaking. Bollywood actor Ritesh Deshmukh said, “In Mumbai the first choice is Hindi film, for a Marathi film it becomes difficult to compete.”
Earlier in 2015, the Maharashtra government had made billboards in Marathi mandatory in the state.

Cine unions don’t seem to be taking Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria’s warning too seriously as they recently disrupted the shooting of Shah Rukh Khan’s new ad at Mehboob Studio.

According to a report published in Mid-Day, the politically-backed unions threatened to stall the ad shoot for roping in foreign artists instead of Indians.

A source was quoted as telling the daily, “Shah Rukh was shooting for a commercial last Saturday night when a group of 50-60 political activists landed at the doorstep and threatened to stop the shoot. They objected to the producer roping in foreign artistes without permission and demanded to see their documents. The studio bouncers and members of the production team prevented them from entering the set.”

The daily further added that the producer was asked to pay a fine of Rs.3-4 lakh for employing foreigners. And, when they refused to oblige, the activists started to argue and threaten to stop the shooting of the ad film. It was then the police was informed.

However, the line producer for the ad shoot, Arpan Fernandes clarified that the shoot was disrupted for a few minutes, but resumed soon after the cops reached the spot.

“The goons fled when the cops reached the studio. We had proper permission and work permit to rope in foreign artistes. Bandra police inspector Vilas Sutar was very supportive. I don’t have any issues with any political party, but the racket needs to be stopped,” he added.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/shah-rukh-khan-ad-shoot-mehboob-studio-political-activist-rakesh-maria/1/429086.html

The state government will seal cellphone towers that flout radiation norms set by the Centre. It will also amend the existing policy for mobile towers in which a state-wide mechanism will be put in place to check violation of norms, and will initiate a study to verify whether high radiations cause deadly diseases like cancer.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made this announcement in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, following demands made by legislators from various parties that the radiation levels were too high and the intensity could pose fatal health hazards that cause diseases like cancer.
The issue was raised when BJP legislator Dr Sunil Deshmukh pointed out that his hometown Amravati had 152 illegal cell towers. Deshmukh’s revelation led Mumbai MLA Ashish Shelar (BJP) and others to ask the CM to review the situation across the state, especially in Mumbai.
They demanded that the existing policy be altered so that the violations are checked and the general public is not put through health hazards due to the violation of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) guidelines on radiation levels.
Fadnavis said that since local self-governing entities did not earn much revenue by allowing cell towers on private premises, rules would be changed to help local municipal corporations.

The CM also said that a state-wide mechanism would be put in place to probe complaints of high level of radiations.
“I understand that there are certain lacunae in the existing policy and hence I will ask the Urban Development Department to make suitable changes to it,” said Fadnavis. However, he did not specify the proposed changes that would be carried out.
In Mumbai, the cell tower policy is administered by the BMC. Activists have consistently complained against high radiation and installation of towers at places that pose a threat to a large number of people. Currently, the issue of installing towers in open spaces and BMC gardens is facing a lot of flak from the public.
Recently, cellphone operators had asked the state government to allow cellphone towers on government-owned buildings across the state. They have also asked the government for a uniform policy that will ease the process of installation of more mobile tower antennae in the state.

In 2014 February and August eal News of India team raised issues on serios threats caysed by cell towers on two different locations.
One was Titanic Building in Maharashtra Nagar, and Shivam Nursing home in Government Colony. The society members were made aware of the health hazards caused to small children living in the society. There was a scuffle between Real News India Team and the Relaince staff before the installation of the tower. The matter was lodged in Khedwadi police station. Real news of India team used experienced lawyers to fight the case which was then ordered against the installation. Till date the Realaince tower has not been installed in Titanic Building.

The second case at Shivam Nursing home the tower was already installed. Real News of India team wanted to confirm if the radiation norms were followed. The first bizarre issue is the tower being installed at a nursing home which is supposed to provide proper health facilities to the general public. The questions raised by Real News of India went unanswered by the management team of Shivam nursing home. With the nexus of the authorities they were able to save their skin and are well protected.Till today Shivam nursing home has been answerable to the leagal questions and health issues raised by Real News of India Team.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Stone-throwing Nepali opposition protesters led by Maoists clashed with police in the capital on Tuesday as they enforced a three-day nationwide shutdown of schools, business and transport in the latest violence to mar talks over a new constitution.
Police in helmets and carrying shields fired tear gas to stop protesters attacking vehicles near the prime minister’s office, police official Kamal Singh Bam said. The protesters burnt a taxi after dousing it with petrol.
The impoverished Himalayan nation wedged between India and China emerged in 2006 from a civil war led by the Maoists that left 17,000 dead. It abolished the monarchy in 2008.
Politicians have missed several deadlines to agree on a new charter for the fledgling republic, and turmoil has increased in recent months. At least two activists were injured in Tuesday’s clashes, a protest organiser said.
An opposition front led by Maoist former rebels sponsored the biggest nationwide shutdown in five years to press the coalition government to seek consensus on the first republican constitution, seen as vital to ending instability.
“The strike is to exert pressure on the government that has not listened to our demands in negotiations,” Maoist leader Dinanath Sharma said.
From dawn, opposition activists waving red hammer and sickle flags fanned across Kathmandu to enforce the strike. Elsewhere, activists threw stones and damaged half a dozen vehicles but no serious injuries were reported, Bam said. Two dozen protesters were detained.
Pashupati Murarka, of the Federation of the Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), said one day of shutdown caused losses worth $20 million and would scare away tourists and investors and deny work to thousands of daily wage earners.
“I am sick of the strike,” said Dipak Adhikari, a government employee who had to walk 8 km (five miles) to work. “I think it only adds people’s hatred towards the organisers.”

Rajya Sabha’s next session will begin from April 23, three days after the second half of the budget session of Lok Sabha commences, amid government’s renewed efforts to reach out to regional parties for passage of land bill which is facing stiff opposition from non-NDA parties.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) chaired by home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday met and decided to recommend the convening of Rajya Sabha from April 23 to May 13 to take forward the business relating to Budget session of Parliament, sources in Parliamentary Affairs ministry said.

The 234th session of Rajya Sabha, which was the first part of the Budget session, was prorogued on March 28, 2015 and hence accordingly, the Upper House will begin its 235th session on April 23.

The Lok Sabha meets as scheduled earlier from April 20 and and will conclude on May 8 in the second part of the Budget session.

Sources said that while the government had no problem in beginning the new session of the Upper House from April 20 itself, it was advanced for three days in order to give the minimum 15 days period to members to give their notices of questions under Rule 39 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Rajya Sabha.

The budget session of Rajya Sabha was cut short on March 28 as the House was prorogued to pave the way for re-promulgation of the Land Acquisition Ordinance.

The bill on Land Acquisition, which provides for amending the Act of 2013, was passed by Lok Sabha during the first half of the budget session but it got stuck due to opposition in Rajya Sabha where ruling NDA is woefully short of numbers.

Under the Constitution, at least one of the Houses has to be prorogued to enable the government to issue an Ordinance.

The Land Acquisition Ordinance, which was promulgated in December last, was to lapse on April 5 because the bill could not be passed by Parliament.

The Ordinance was reissued on Friday last and carried the nine official amendments to the earlier Ordinance agreed to by the government in Lok Sabha.

NEW DELHI: In clear violation of rules, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, a chain smoker, carries matchboxes with him on flights since he is not subjected to frisking.

Raju made this confession during his address at the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) event here today when he said that before becoming a minister last year, his matchboxes and lighters were confiscated by airport security. He had lost all his lighters and matchboxes then.

But after becoming the minister for civil aviation “people stopped frisking me” and “my matchbox also came along with me”, he said.

The Minister’s comment comes against the backdrop of rising concerns about aviation security in the country.

Matchboxes and lighters are among the items that are not allowed inside aircraft in India.

When asked whether matchbox should be allowed inside aircraft, Raju said, “I don’t know. I carry a matchbox in my pocket. Even now, here also, I carry it. There is no secret (about it)”.

“My own lighters and matchboxes kept getting confiscated…. It is just a fact that I mentioned,” he added.

On being asked whether he carries matchbox even while travelling in flight, Raju quipped, “You (reporters) are going to make an issue out of it” but added that “I have yet to come across an incident worldwide where a matchbox became a threat.”

The Minister, however, emphasised that security should be meaningful rather than being obtrusive.

“(So how do we) make security meaningful without being obtrusive or without obstructing economic activities. We need to make security less obtrusive,” Raju noted.

Raju is a senior leader of the Telugu Desam Party, an NDA ally.