The Truth About Ourselves
The human genome sequence has been completed and shows some surprising findings. Despite having one-third less genes than estimated, human beings are still very complex. With access to disease genes, medicine and diagnostics will be revolutionised. However, this will also raise ethical questions on cloning and genetic privacy.

Hope In Hell
Four weeks after the earthquake, Gujarat is still coming to terms with the devastation. True grit is emerging from the rubble but it will be some time before lives are rebuilt. INDIA TODAY's teams went out across these death zones, capturing stories which record this renewal.

Simmer Time

Profitable Loss
36 With over 90,000 employees opting for the VRS scheme, PSU banks are set to get over their problem of overstaffing. But is it going to make banks more competitive in this age of automation? Besides, it is also going to cost more than Rs 7,500 crore and will deprive the banks of skilled workers.

Paper Money

Spreading Terror
The attacks on Delhi's Red Fort,
the Srinagar airport and the city's police control room show the Lashkar-e-Toiba is increasingly catching the Indian security forces unawares-and emerging as the most daring terrorist group from Pakistan.

Face Off
It's David Vs Goliath as India play an Australian demolition squad at home. What makes the Aussies tick and how can India take them on?

Cricketwatch:
Ashley Mallett

COVER STORY: HUMAN GENOME

ETHICS
Can man play God now?

So are we going to see a superhuman? Or a factory that churns out your clone by the hundreds? Hate to deflate
the hoopla folks, we are still a long way from playing
Dr Frankenstein, leave alone God.

The human genome sequence has been completed at a time when cloning of various animals has become routine. The decoded sequence lays open to the public information about all human genes. So can we manipulate our genes to provide superclones? "Theoretically, yes," says Bainbridge, "but it's very, very unlikely." It would be impossible to control the multiple roles of genes. As Subramanian points out, "Our understanding of the complexities of life just based on the sequence is quite trivial at this point even though we have the blueprint in front of us." Adds Nusbaum: "We have to remember that cloning does not bring a person back. Environment has an effect. Genes are important but it's about half the story. Your genes might determine that you could be a seven-footer, but it won't happen without adequate nutrition." Genes, in other words, define potential. It's the environment that ensures that potential is fully met. Also only 1.5 per cent of the entire genome contains genes. The rest, dismissed so far as "junk DNA" of no purpose, could actually be extremely important in controlling the gene so that it expresses at the right place at the right time. Scientists insist there is no room or reason for scare stories.

Human cloning may be very difficult as environment is a key factor

Ethical issues are now a major concern for all scientists. Rather than cloning, a greater threat comes from lack of privacy, says Nancy Lane, a bioethics expert and professor of biology at Cambridge University. Like an id, a person's gene sequence record can be made available on tap. In the near future, this means an insurance company, for example, may charge a higher premium from a person who shows a susceptibility for developing hypertension. Or at the work place, Darwinian selection may be replaced by managerial selection as employees are hired or fired on the basis of their potential as seen from their genetic profile. "Educating the people is the best way to protect them," declares Nusbaum. Not just the public but governments too. Education must go hand-in-hand with legislation and strict enforcement of law. Genome scientists are already lobbying governments in the US to form regulations on genetic privacy. The maturity with which we handle such powerful knowledge will determine the future of the human race.

MetroScape
Delhi On My Mind...
I'm very flattered to have this act of 'piracy' take place," laughs William Dalrymple, as extracts from his engrossing travelogue City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi were interpreted by photographer Agnes Montanari and art historian Nathalie Trouveroy in an exhibition.
more...

Looking Glass

Delhi: Restaurant

Delhi: Exhibition

Mumbai: Exhibition

"I was very much against the idea of India," says William Dalrymple, author, The City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi. In conversation with INDIA TODAY's Sonia Faleiro, he talks about his old girlfriend, Delhi and his "enormously exciting" next book, The White Moghuls in Interviews.