How Fit Is He?
Ageing Vajpayee's health is suddenly a matter of speculation. What does this mean for the party and ruling coalition? Plus the PM's US Trip

Dressed To Kill
Shutdowns, idle looms, stagnant markets and cheap imports - the textile industry is fighting battles on several fronts with its hands tied.

How Green Is My Village
A unique build-your-own-dam scheme helps transform Saurashtra into an oasis of plenty.

Fifth Column
by Tavleen Singh
Weigh Your Words

Kautilya
by Jairam Ramesh
Comrades In Arms

Right Angle
by Swapan Dasgupta
Truncation Of The Mind

Flipside
by Dilip Bobb
Question Of Arms

Bun Of Contention
A new-look Sonia Gandhi...

Ignorance Is Bliss
K.N. Govindacharya in a videshi vehicle...

more...

From The Editor In Chief

Russia, Winston Churchill once said, "is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma". So it seems are the health details of the Indian prime minister. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee cut short a trip to Nagpur on health grounds last week, we instinctively knew we had a cover story, a sentiment only confirmed when he postponed and shortened his upcoming visit to the US. Equally, we realised this was going to be a difficult story to do. Vajpayee is the glue holding together the 24 parties that make up his coalition. Take him away and there's no telling what may become of the precarious balance reached courtesy the sheer weight of his personality. This is what makes the speculation about Vajpayee's fitness a more serious matter than just idle speculation. To side-step this prickly story would be to deviate from our basic credo: staying ahead of the news.

Yet unearthing the truth about an Indian prime minister's medical condition is an arduous task. The issue of Vajpayee's health seems to have become the NDA Government's best kept secret since the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998. Editor Prabhu Chawla was called upon to exercise his vast network of contacts to ferret out the details on this delicate subject. Many of the prime minister's doctors, close officials and politicians whom Chawla met insisted on speaking off the record but eventually embellished our story with more information than is generally available. Says Chawla, who has reported on 10 prime ministers: "After Morarji Desai, who took office at 81, Vajpayee is the oldest prime minister in Indian history. It is amazing that even at 76, he is coping with the rigours of his job so well and remains crucial to the NDA's cohesiveness."

The best counter to the gossip mills is transparency. The Government should come out with the facts on the Prime Minister's health and put rumours to rest.

(Aroon Purie)

Top

Is the market right in backing cartelisation by cement companies, asks India Today Associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar in Au ContrAiyar
Au Contraiyar.

A lukewarm response to their hyped war cry against "minority bashing" forces a rethink by Christian leaders in Orissa. INDIA TODAY Special Correspondent Ruben Banerjee reports in Despatches.