New Delhi, Nov 6 : A delegation led by Australian Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism Martin Ferguson called on Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel here today.

From Indian side senior officials of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas including R. S. Pandey, Secretary (P&NG) and concerned PSUs viz., GAIL, OVL, BPCL and PLL were also present during the meeting.

New Delhi, Nov 6 : Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora has returned this morning from a successful visit of Russia.

During his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Deora referred to India’s desire for formation of joint venture between ONGC Videsh Limited
(OVL) and Rosneft for taking up exploration and development projects in east Siberia.

Chennai, Nov 6 : Relief material comprising clothes, food and life saving drugs is ready to leave from Chennai for civilian population in conflict-hit northern Sri Lanka.

Nearly 80,000 relief packets containing necessary clothes and food material are ready to be transported to Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu government had decided to provide relief material to the island country, where Indian origin Tamil population is predominant.

Varanasi, Nov 6 :Scores of handloom weavers took to streets on Thursday in Varanasi, famous for its world renowned Banarasi sarees, against the cheap quality Chinese imitation products flooding the market.

The Banarasi saree, named after Varanasi''s old name, Banaras, is the city''s most famous export item.

The Banarasi saree that became popular during the Mughal era, is a cottage industry for millions of people around Varanasi.

Mumbai, Nov 6 : England cricket team arrived in Mumbai on Thursday for the seven-match one-day series against India.

England will be playing their first one-day match in Rajkot on November 14 and is also scheduled to play two tests in Ahmedabad and Mumbai in December.

Indian selectors named a 15-man squad for the matches at Rajkot, Indore (November 17) and Kanpur (November 20) with Murali Vijay the only new face whereas ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been rested for the first three matches.

Gumla (Jharkhand), Nov. 6 : Farmers in Brinda village in Jharkhand’s Gumla district have converted 60 acres barren area into lush agricultural land through cooperative farming.

"Previously, we used to go out of Jharkhand to earn our daily bread. But now a lot of things have changed for us ever since we converted this barren land into a cultivable one. Now, there is no need for us to go out of our village, as we can sustain ourselves by cultivating crops here," said Indu Oeron, a farmer of the village.