Living up to its antics again, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s activists beat up scores of north Indian aspirants appearing for the Railway Recruitment Board entrance exam for the Western region, in Mumbai on Sunday.

They created a rumpus outside examination centres, blocked roads and shouted anti-north Indian slogans. They demanded the recruitment of Marathi people.

“When there is availability here why should people from outside be called?” said MNS general secretary Nitin Sardesai. “They come here and are living on the platforms.”

Vice President, MNS Student's Wing Ashish Jadhav said that Raj Thackeray has demanded 80 per cent reservation for Maharashtrians. If that doesn't happen they will protest.

The ambitious Nano, which has gone through some rough times shall finally be launched by the year end from the Tata's Pune Plant. It will be a small scale launch as only 200-300 Nano's shall be seen on the roads.

Gawedewadi (Maharashtra), Oct 13 : President Pratibha Patil on Monday hailed the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, noting that India’s tradition of peace and brotherhood helped it gain international acceptance to trade in nuclear energy without signing the NPT or the CTBT.

“Because of India’s tradition of brotherhood ingrained in our psyche the world recognises India as a peaceful nation. This has helped us gain acceptance from international community to use nuclear energy peacefully, despite not signing the NPT or the CTBT,” Patil said.

Nashik, Oct 13 : Schools as well as educational institutes opened on Monday a week after violence broke out in Dhule over tearing of a banner and curfew in this North Maharashtra town was relaxed for a longer period.

Curfew has been relaxed from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. this evening following no fresh incidents of violence and improvement in the situation, Dhule police control told a news agency.

Dhule (Maharashtra), Oct 12 : Curfew was relaxed for three hours in Maharashtra''s violence-hit Dhule district on Sunday.

According to police, the curfew was relaxed by the district administration from 8:00 a. m. as the situation is under control.

So far, no reports of fresh violence have been reported since Thursday.

Police have arrested 250 people in connection with the riots.

The issue has already sparked off debate around the nation and with Maharashtra government giving a ‘go ahead’ to the proposal, it is a welcome note for some. The Maharashtra Cabinet has proposed a legal framework for ‘live-in’ relationships with the status of ‘wife’ to be given to the women who has been residing with a man for quite a while.