New Delhi, Oct 15 : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Lanka issue is a cause for serious concern after Tamil Nadu MPs’ warned that they will quit if a solution to the Sri Lankan Tamil problem is not worked out within two weeks.

“We believe, the situation in Sri Lanka does not call for military victory but negotiated, political settlement that respects Sri Lankan sovereignty and human rights of ethnic Tamils,” he said.

“We are also concerned about harassment and killing of Indian fishermen in the maritime area between India and Sri Lanka,” the PM said.

New Delhi, Oct 15 : Finance Minister P Chidambaram has announced that the Reserve Bank of India will immediately release Rs 25,000 crore to commercial banks, cooperative banks and RRBs under the farm loan waiver scheme.

He also announced doubling of the investment limit to six billion dollars for foreign institutional investors in corporate bonds.

The series of announcements came on a day when stock markets tanked, with the benchmark Sensex losing 674 points, reversing the two-day winning streak.

New Delhi, Oct 15 : Atif, the alleged mastermind of the September 13 serial blasts in the national capital and was gunned down in a shootout last month, took admission in Jamia Millia University by allegedly using a fake degree certificate, said police.

According to the police, the 24-year-old Azamgarh youth allegedly submitted a B. Sc degree certificate from Allahabad University for taking admission in a post-graduation course in human rights at Jamia.

Allahabad University has confirmed that the graduation certificate used by Atif had not been issued by it.

New Delhi, Oct 15 : Union Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan today said that the fertilizer companies need not worry about the payment of subsidies.

Speaking here after receiving the dividend cheque from the public sector National Fertilizes Limited, Paswan said there is no arrear as regards the payment and additional requirements will me met out of the supplementary demand for grants.

He said international prices of fertilizer have fallen which will help to bring down the subsidy bill. But part of the gain will be off set by the fall in the exchange rate of rupee.

New Delhi, Oct 15 : Union Minister for Rural Development Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has stressed upon creating more awareness regarding the transparent implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) across the country.

Mumbai, Oct 15 : Equities plunged on Wednesday as sentiments turned bearish after global markets declined on recessionary concerns.

All the sectoral indices closed in the red led by losses in capital goods and metals stocks.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 10,809.12, down 674.28 points. It touched an intra-day low of 10,760.33 and a high of 11,257.15.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 3338.40, down 5.12 per cent or 180.25 points. The broader index touched a low of 3,324.55 and a high of 3,518.50.