Tata Motors has appointed the country's largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI) as an exclusive booking agent for Nano. The ambitious small car due to launch by Tata group soon, is expected to record decent sales.

The Chief Manager of SBI, Jayanta Kumar Sinha, said on Friday, "SBI has been selected as the sole booking agent for Nano."

However, Mr. Sinha refused to disclose details of deal between SBI and Tata and said that official announcement is likely to come in few days.

New Delhi - Twenty-nine people have died of hepatitis in Sabarkantha district of India's Gujarat state in the past fortnight, officials said Friday.

Sabarkatha district collector M Thennarasan said the disease was a mutant form of the hepatitis B virus. He said more than 40 people had been hospitalized with suspected infection.

The hepatitis B virus is usually transmitted through body fluids and, therefore, rarely occurs in very large numbers. It can be transferred through blood transfusion, infected needles or unprotected sex.

Gandhinagar, Feb 20 : Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt on Friday revoked the suspension of 16 Congress MLAs, three days after they had created disturbance during the budget session.

The MLAs had shouted slogans and displayed placards in the House on February 17 when the Governor began his speech.

Following that, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Amit Shah, moved a motion to suspend the 16 MLAs.

After the MLA's suspension, the Congress boycotted Assembly proceedings and held a sit-in demonstration outside the Speaker's office.

Ahmedabad, Feb 19 : Gujarat High Court judge A. S. Dave on Thursday declined to hear the petition of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that challenged the anticipatory bail granted to State Minister Maya Kodnani and the former VHP leader Jaydeep Patel in connection with the Godhra case.

"Not before me. The case will now be transferred to the court of another judge and the date of hearing would be decided later, Dave said.

Justice Dave did not give any reason for his decision.

Ahmedabad, Feb 19 : The Hepatitis B death toll in Modasa, Gujarat has risen to 34, with ten more deaths reported on Thursday.

A Sabarkantha District helath official said: "Ten people have lost their lives on Thursday, taking the number of deaths due to hepatitis infection to 34."

There have been several new cases reported, taking the total number of cases registered to over 100, off which 34 have died.

Some of the infected are undergoing treatment in various hospitals in different districts.

Hepatitits B virus is deadly and communicable like HIV virus but it is 100 times more infectious than HIV and spreads much faster. It spreads through blood and unsafe sex.

Recently several cases of Hepatitits B have been reported in Sabarkantha district in north Gujarat, 2 hours away from Ahmedabad. According to reports, 70 cases of Hepatitits B have been reported all over Sabarkantha district. Some of these patients have slipped into coma whereas 19 others have died. FIR has been filed against seven doctors for using infected syringes.