Two Winners And A Photo Finish
According to the INDIA TODAY-ORG-MARG opinion poll, there will be clear winners in two states, but a tight finish in a third.

The Last Rampage
To offset
J. Jayalalitha's slight edge, a pugnacious M. Karunanidhi gives it his all in what is his final electoral campaign.

The Sixth Sense
A mercurial Mamata Banerjee vs a dependable Buddhadev Bhattacharya. The mismatch leaves the Left Front with a premonition of victory.

Secular Stake
Even as the Church makes a blatant move to play a more political role in the state, the CPI(M) nominates a priest to woo minorities.

One Man Barmy
India's apex social sciences facilitating body is rocked by civil war: the chairman says he is being opposed by both RSS ideologues and leftist academics.

Changing Order
An ageing profile and a frustrated officer corps leads the force to consider VRS and restructuring.

Liquid Asset
The Rs 700-crore industry has attracted many players. Now, purity will decide who stays in business.

Board Of No Control
Tax authorities say the BCCI spends more money on meetings than on matches.

BUSINESS: BOTTLED WATER

Aqua Guards

On September 29 2000, the Health and Family Affairs Ministry laid out two gazette notifications amending provisions of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) rules, classifying bottled water (hitherto generalised as "mineral water") in two categories: packaged natural mineral water (to be obtained directly from natural or drilled underground sources with specified content of mineral salts; to be packaged close to the point of emergence of source and not subjected to any treatment other than those permitted by this standard), and packaged drinking water (to be obtained from any source of potable water and treated and disinfected to achieve the specifications laid down). The Government had also laid out a March 29, 2001 deadline for all water brands to mandatorily acquire Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification and PFA licence if they wanted to be on shopshelves. But as Dr D.A. Dabholkar, director of the Shriram Institute of Industrial Research, Delhi, says: "Safety norms don't end with the BIS mark. Bottlers have to regularly submit their water samples for analysis, and the analysis has to be printed on the bottles."

As of today, around 30 brands, including Aquafina, Kinley, Himalayan, Blue Lite and Fresh have got the BIS mark. The others who have applied have been given a grace period of three months till they pass the quality norms.

A natural fall-out of the new standards could mean that "unscrupulous", smaller players will be edged out in the event of being unable to meet the specifications. Says Vikas Kocchar, regional manager, corporate affairs, Kinley, Coca-Cola: "With the recent notification, it will be difficult for smaller players in the market to continue sustaining big margins." And especially since the BIS certification comes at a marking fee of about Rs 1.5 lakh. It would also mean that those who do manage to survive the litmus test will have to further invest and modernise equipment and introduce demineralisation and reverse osmosis units for water treatment. Pepsi's Executive Director (marketing) Vibha Rishi agrees: "The new standards of hygiene will separate the quality players from the rest." CII's Deputy Director Sandhya Tewari is more emphatic: "There may be a lag in growth for the moment but let's hope the new standards will phase out the nakli, spurious players which are the industry's biggest worry today."

MetroScape

Bond Free
The Savoy in Mussoorie must be the only hotel, apart from the Raffles in Singapore, to have a thing about writers. So, it was quite kismet when publisher Pramod Kapoor of Roli Books and author Namita Gokhale, who has an imprint with him, hosted the Ruskin Bond Festschrift—a Writers' Retreat in honour of that gentle Indian Roald Dahl, Ruskin Bond.
more...

Looking Glass

Delhi Cinema:
Canadian film festival

Delhi Art Fest:
Documenta

Bangalore Play:
Little Theatre