Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), Oct. 3: A cluster of four gigantic Sagwan (teak) trees, believed to be over two centuries old may soon decay despite being located in Ecotone region of teak and protected by the Forest Department.

These trees hold high significance for the local tribes in Machkot jungles in Chhattisgarh who worship them as an index of good omen.

One of these Sagwan trees, fondly named Bharat is slowly dying despite monitoring. The other three trees in this historical cluster have been named after Lord Rama, Laxmana, and Shatrugana, the mythological characters of Ramayana, the Hindu epic.

With the unceasing violence taking place in Orissa and Karanataka, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes have resolved to take up the issue before the Cabinet meeting which is scheduled to take place on Friday.

The matter needs to be reviewed and some concrete measures have to be taken before it gets worse. With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh citing the attacks on Christians in the States of Orissa and Karanataka as “acts of national shame” and the issue being aggravated, reaching a solution will be given a priority at the Meeting.

The union government is planning to increase Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Direct to Home (DTH) service. The ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) recommended 74 percent FDI in DTH service from the existing cap of 49 percent. 

This is informed by additional secretary, Asha Swarup at IDNS conference. The proposed move of government is aimed to bring parity between DTH and telecom services in the country.

A trade deficit of $13.94 billion was reported as against $7.19 billion in the same month last year. The soaring prices of Oil in international market and weakening of Rupee against the Dollar has been accounted for as the reasons for the upsurge.  

An increasing trend was noticed both in exports as well as imports as compared to the last year,with export soaring to 26.9 percent in August, while the import bill rose to 51.2 percent. The former grew to $16 billion in August from $12.61 billion while latter to $29.94 billion from $19.8 billion.

Azamgarh (UP), Oct 3: The Mumbai Police today conducted a search in Azamgarh town of Uttar Pradesh to look out for Abu Rashid, the main suspect in the recent series of bomb blasts across the country.

According to police officials, the Mumbai Crime Branch and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh are jointly conducting search operation in Azamgarh.

Kolkata, Oct 3: Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee here today to discuss the company's 'Nano' car project in Singur which has run into rough weather after strong resistance from the Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress over farmland acquisition issue.

According to sources, the meeting is scheduled to be held in the afternoon at the Writers' Buildings.

Work on the Tata's 'Nano' project has been suspended for nearly a month because of the protest by the Trinamool Congress.