New Delhi, Feb 16 : US civil rights leader Martin Luther King III inaugurated a special exhibition "Journey towards Freedom" on Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King here today.

King said peace, love and non-violence are necessary in every day life, and hoped that people would be able to know about the philosophy and thoughts of both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior.

On Sunday, King and an American delegation visited Rajghat, Gandhi''s memorial in the national capital.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : President Pratibha Patil today presented Hindi Sevi Samman - 2007 awards to a number of Hindi experts for playing their important role in promoting the Hindi language.

The award ceremony was organised by Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra, which is an autonomous organization under the Department of Higher Education, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

New Delhi - Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, held talks Monday with Indian leaders in New Delhi on the last leg of a fact-finding tour to the region.

Holbrooke, who had earlier visited Pakistan and Afghanistan, met with Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, an official of the External Affairs Ministry said.

The two leaders were expected to discuss the November terrorist attacks in Mumbai, a diplomatic official said earlier.

New Delhi, Feb 16, : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday announced an allocation of Rs. 30,100 crore for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for the year 2009-10 and said the scheme has made a significant contribution in providing employment.

"Adequate funds have been ensured for the flagship programmes. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme gets Rs. 30,100 crore for the year 2009-10. This Scheme generated 138.76 crore person days of employment covering 3.51 crore households in 2008-09," Mukherjee told Parliament.

New Delhi, Feb 16 : To showcase the ability to sustain operations for a prolonged period of time and flexi use of the air space, the Indian Air Force is set to carry out the second edition of Exercise Dakshin Prahar.

The weeklong unique operational exercise which, has become an annual feature, starts from February 18 under the aegis of the Southern Air Command (SAC).

New Delhi, Feb. 16 : Presenting the vote-on-account for fiscal 2009-10, acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday announced a hike in defence allocation, a subsidy for fertilizers and relief for small scale industry (SSI), but kept foreign direct investment (FDI) and the country's gross domestic product (GDP) intact.

Placing emphasis on the impact of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai that claimed 179 lives and maimed over 300 others, Mukherjee proposed a 34 percent hike on defence allocation to Rs. 114700 crore.