I&B Ministry
I&B ministry urges home ministry to reopen movie theatres from August
MUMBAI: Due to the Covid2019 pandemic, cinema halls across India were shut from March. While several businesses started operational work in Unlock phases 1.0 and 2.0, movie theatres are still waiting for the government's nod.
Now, as India is approaching Unlock 3.0, the information and broadcasting ministry (I&B) has passed a recommendation to the home ministry to allow movie theatres across the country to reopen from August.
I&B secretary Amit Khare highlighted this issue at a closed-door meeting with the CII media committee on 25 July. However, he also said that the final decision will be taken up by his counterpart in the ministry of home affairs Ajay Bhalla.
Khare, during the interaction, recommended that the cinema halls all over India may be allowed to reopen as early as 1 August or at the latest around 31 August.
In the meeting he also suggested an alternative formula to practice social distancing norms and other SOPs. As per his recommendations, in theatres the seats of first and second row to be kept vacant. Theatres will have alternate seats in the first row and follow the same procedure throughout.
Khare said that his ministry's recommendation takes into consideration the two metre social distancing norm, but tweaks it gently to two yards instead.
Movie theatre owners present in the meeting showed objection to this idea and pointed out this idea is unwise and running theatres at 25 per cent capacity is worse than keeping cinema halls shut.
The attendees at the meeting included media CEOs like NP Singh of Sony, Sam Balsara (Madison), Megha Tata, (Discovery), Gaurav Gandhi (Amazon Prime), Manish Maheshwari (Twitter), S Sivakumar (Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd), and K Madhavan, (Star & Disney) who is also the chairman of CII media committee.
I&B Ministry
MeitY & Reliance Foundation launch e-SafeHER cyber training for Women
Programme aims to train one million rural women in cyber safety over three years
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has partnered with Reliance Foundation and C-DAC Hyderabad to launch ‘e-SafeHER’, a nationwide cyber security awareness programme aimed at empowering one million women across rural India.
Anchored under the Information Security Education and Awareness Programme, the initiative will focus on building digital confidence and safe online practices among women who are increasingly using digital platforms for financial transactions, livelihoods and essential services.
The programme will be rolled out through a community-led model, with training delivered via women’s self-help groups and grassroots networks. C-DAC Hyderabad will develop and localise training content, while Reliance Foundation will drive on-ground implementation using its rural outreach platforms.
Speaking on the launch, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary S Krishnan said, “e-SafeHER is an exciting opportunity to bring together knowledge and collaboration to build a cyber secure Bharat. Through this initiative, women from even the remotest regions will be empowered to participate safely in the digital ecosystem.”
Echoing this, Reliance Foundation director Isha Ambani said the initiative aims to equip women with the skills needed to navigate the online world safely. She added that the goal is to enable one million “Cyber Sakhis” who can confidently adopt digital tools to improve their lives and livelihoods.
The programme will begin with pilot training in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, before scaling nationwide through a phased approach. It will use multilingual content, audio-visual modules and blended learning formats to ensure accessibility and engagement.
Designed for long-term impact, e-SafeHER will be integrated into existing digital literacy and women’s empowerment programmes, avoiding the need for parallel infrastructure. The initiative also aims to drive measurable behavioural change, from improved awareness of cyber risks to safer digital transactions.
By combining policy, technology and grassroots reach, the programme looks to bridge not just the digital divide, but the digital safety gap, ensuring that inclusion goes hand in hand with security.
