The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) recently launched a programme in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, to preserve trees that link India with other cultures, to mark the World Tourism Day. Chandrashekhar Jaiswal, Senior Manager, MTDC, said that the programme would highlight the importance of preserving tree species - rare ones and also those which were brought to the country hundreds of years ago by foreign settlers, according to a report by Syed Rizwanullah in The Times of India.
According to Jaiswal, the city currently has only three Baobab trees, which were most likely brought into the country by Arab settlers. He also said that the MTDC has linked preservation of trees with cultural programmes. In another recent event at Kalagram, artist Dilip Khanderai introduced Maharashtrian culture to foreign students, while Afghan and Thai students presented a cultural programme for the local audiences.