BJP confident it will get Oppn leader's post in Maharashtra

Being the single largest party after ruling Congress-NCP alliance, BJP is projecting senior leader Eknath Khadse for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, though its ally Shiv Sena is in no mood to part with it.

Sena Executive president Uddhav Thackeray's statement that "numbers won't determine who gets to hold the post" seems to have no impact on BJP, which is projecting Khadse for the post.

According to a senior BJP leader, Khadse's name is likely to be declared at the meeting of newly elected party MLAs here on Friday.

"As per the rules, we have more number of MLAs after the ruling alliance. So, it is obvious that we will get the post of Opposition Leader in the Assembly," state BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawade told PTI.

Mumbai airport shut for 6 hours every Tuesday

If you are catching a flight from Mumbai between 11am and 12noon on a Tuesday, be sure to arrive at least 75 minutes before the scheduled
departure time.

The airport will witness complete closure for six hours as the intersection between two cross-runways will be shut for the next 22 Tuesdays from 12 noon to 6pm for repair and reconstruction work. This would not only mean that flight operations would be suspended during that time, but departing and arriving flights prior to the closure will have to stick strictly to schedule in order to avoid major delays or diversions to other airports.

At least 12 flights have been cancelled and four rescheduled at Mumbai international airport due to six-hour runway closure starting today.

Jet Airways & JetLite have decided to reschedule flights to and from Mumbai on Tuesdays.

Kingfisher that operates 31 domestic flights out of and into Mumbai has either changed flight timings or flight numbers.

In order to avoid last-minute hassles, passengers can arrive a little more than an hour earlier. The Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) will be making additional announcements to facilitate quick check-in and to update flyers on the status of their flights.

While on other occasions, it is possible to roam around in the airport, on Tuesdays it is advised that passengers collect their boarding cards and move towards boarding gates as soon as their flight is announced. ‘‘The flight will not wait as in case of a delay, there would not be any way out for the next six hours. Hence, passengers will have to be careful and make sure that they board on time,’’ said an MIAL official.

Passengers will be intimated about the situation on the airline counters as well. While the closure of intersection will bring most operations to a halt, MIAL said a shortened runway, which is almost half of the usual 3,448 metres available, will be used for smaller aircraft operations. ‘‘As many as 83 flight departures and arrivals will be taking place on a shortened runway. This would mean that only small aircraft like ATRs or a Boeing 737, Airbus-319,320 will operate. Jet airways and Kingfisher are the only two airlines to be operational during those hours,’’ an MIAL official said.

Almost 100 flight slots have either been cancelled or rescheduled in the wake of the closure. Officials said the closure would affect the most in case of an emergency situation.

‘‘Since the secondary runway is already shut for reconstruction, we will have no option to accommodate any aircraft even during an emergency on Tuesdays, unless its a small aircraft,’’ said an airport official.

Hindi speaking American professor to teach in Mumbai

An American professor, who has lived in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and speaks Hindi well, has won a Fulbright scholarship to teach and study at the University of Mumbai during spring semester 2010.

'I am thrilled and excited by my selection, not only for the opportunities it allows for study, but also for the opportunity it offers to be an ambassador for Idaho State University (ISU) and American higher education,' said Alan Johnson, ISU Associate Professor of English, who was raised in India.

Johnson's specialty, according to the university is postcolonial literature and theory, with a focus on South Asian literature, primarily Indian.

He studies Indian writers writing in English who have become increasingly popular abroad as well as in India, such as Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai and Amitav Ghosh. He will teach classes on globalisation and literature, literary theory, and postcolonial studies.

'It will be interesting to see how that university works and to become familiar with Indian higher education,' said Johnson.

'It may be useful for me to share my experience as we live in an increasingly globalised world and ISU tries to attract more international students. It is not just the subjects I teach, but the reciprocal relationships I wish to cultivate that are important.'

Johnson left India after graduating from high school. He earned his BA from Southern Illinois University, his MA from the University of Virginia and his PhD from the University of California, Riverside. All his degrees were in English.

Johnson is married and has three children, and hopes his wife and some of his children can visit him sometime during his five- to six-month stay in India.

The Fulbright Programme is the flagship international educational exchange programme sponsored by the US government and is designed to 'increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries,' according to the organization's website.

Approximately 294,000 'Fulbrighters,' 111,000 from the US and 183,000 from other countries, have participated in the programme since its inception more than sixty years ago.

Booker opens first cash & carry store in Mumbai

After Germany’s Metro and US-based Wal-Mart, UK’s largest cash and carry player Booker Group Plc has set up its first shop in the country at Mumbai.

Booker India, a unit of Booker Group, spent nearly Rs 8 crore in setting up the 35,000-square-foot cash and carry store in Kandivali suburb of Mumbai and, based on the success of the store in the next couple of months, will roll out similar ones in other parts of the country, a top company executive said.

“There is a good business opportunity here. Our initial survey shows that metros and smaller towns can take different sized stores in the country. We will see how our Mumbai store operates and stabilises. Once it reaches our expectations, we will look at rolling out stores in other parts of the country,” said Zunaid Bangee, MD, Booker India.

“We will focus on better prices, better products and a better range to individual retailers and caterers. We have modified our stores according to Indian conditions,” he pointed out.

Booker will focus more on staples and food items in Indian stores unlike in the UK where such business revolves around alcohol and tobacco, he said.

“Consumer response has been very good and we have already been getting increasing footfalls and business,” Bangee said. The Booker store in Mumbai has 24,000 customers registered with it and it will sell 6,000 stock keeping units (SKUs).

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