Good Economics,
Risky Politics
Defying the pressures of politics, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has come forth with a bold, hard budget. He has committed the Government to a slew of daring economic reforms through this year's budget. But, beyond the initial euphoria generated by sheer promises, lies a rough road to fulfilling them. Will the pressures of coalition politics and an irrational Opposition allow him to deliver?

Interview:
Yashwant Sinha
"It is my budget,
not the PMO's."

Smeltdown
The NDA Government handsomely wins a vote moved by the Opposition in the Lok Sabha against the privatisation of Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO), but it should now start worrying about the poor response to bidding for strategic partnership of public-sector units.

Progress Report
With an overwhelming response from readers, the CARE TODAY society had funds flowing in from all quarters to aid it in its efforts to help those rendered homeless and jobless by the devastating earthquake of January 26.

Reeling Estate
Gujarat is witnessing a strange phenomenon with the two hands of the Sangh Parivar, the RSS and the VHP, earning public goodwill and the BJP leadership finding itself in the hot seat over links with the building mafia.

Bust to Dust
International outrage doesn't deter the Taliban militia from pushing ahead with its plan to destroy historical statues, including the 2,000-year-old Buddha statues in Bamiyan.

Piecing the
Ahar Puzzle Excavations of sites from the 4,500-year-old Ahar culture provide clues to the link between the Harappans and their predecessors.

NEIGHBOURS: AFGHANISTAN

A Cultural Disaster

UNCARING CURATORS: A Taliban official with a Buddha statue at the National Museum--a dozen ancient images have been destroyed

India's normally slow-to-react Ministry of External Affairs cobbled up a harsh statement condemning the fatwa as a "barbaric act". The US State Department was equally forthright. "Deliberate destruction of statues and sculpture held as sacred by peoples of different faiths is incomprehensible, as is the Taliban's utter rejection of the treasures of Afghanistan's past," said spokesman Philip Reeker. Even the Afghans themselves aren't unanimous on the edict. Hamid Karzai, a former deputy foreign minister in the ousted Burhanuddin Rabbani regime, said the statues are no longer a part of religion but a part of the country's history, as the pharaohs' tombs are in Egypt. "Afghanistan has been a staunch Muslim country for 1,200 years and the mullahs have never tried to destroy the statues," he said.

VERDICT OF A WASTELAND

Buddhist stupas, rock edicts dating back to Emperor Ashoka's reign and other sacred objects face demolition

Map not to scale

Buddhists worldwide were outraged. Sri Lanka launched a major diplomatic effort to save the statues. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar asked his envoys in India, Thailand, Myanmar and Nepal to work out a common strategy to deal with the threat. UNESCO chief Koichiro Matsuura appealed to the Taliban to reconsider its decision. "It will be a real cultural disaster," he said. "This heritage is central to Afghanistan's memory and identity and is a landmark in the history of other civilisations."

It is not yet clear whether the Taliban, who face a drought and a severe famine this year, are hoping to use the uproar as a bargaining chip to ease UN sanctions which were tightened in January as punishment for the militia's refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden. Senior Taliban figures have recently spoken of the possibility of negotiating over bin Laden, the Saudi dissident charged in the US with the bombing of two American embassies in east Africa in 1998 which claimed 224 lives.

In another positive move, Mulla Omar has banned poppy cultivation, an edict which the UN admits has been largely followed by Afghanistan's farmers and which directly answers international demands for the Taliban to stop the production of heroin.

But it would be difficult and perhaps embarrassing for Mulla Omar to reverse his latest decree. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted an unyielding Mulla Omar: "I don't care about anything else but Islam." The Taliban's foreign minister, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, made it clear there would be no turning back. "If the world has concerns, we are ready to listen to them and we will give them our explanations if they want to listen. It is their right to be convinced or not to be convinced," he said. The fate of some of the world's rarest treasures appears sealed.

MetroScape
Personality Matters Those behind the Grasim Mr India contest think it is one up over other male pageants.
But is it?
more...

Looking Glass

Mumbai: Swarovski Boutique

Delhi: Colours 'n' Spice

Delhi: Mindscapes

The Keoladeo National Park Sanctuary in Bharatpur gets an unprecedented number of migratory birds due to the dry spell last year. But experts feel another drought could be disastrous, writes INDIA TODAY's Supriya Bezbaruah in
Despatches.

"The only obvious competition is in bhangra," say the Pakistani duo of the music group, Strings, in conversation with INDIA TODAY's Sonia Faleiro in
Interviews.