Where Have All The Jobs Gone
Old jobs are being slashed and new ones have slowed down to a trickle. With corporate India shedding staff faster than ever before, the worst sufferers are freshers and middle-level managers.

Preparing For Musharraf
Administrators, securitymen and hospitality merchants gear up to ensure that it's not just the Taj that will impress the visiting
Pakistani President.

Adviser Raj
Bureaucrats don't retire. Their terms are extended or they are reappointed to counsel political mentors.

Out Of Luck Now
It will take more than voter-friendly symbolism to ensure victory in UP.

Hard Cover Up
The Government is perturbed by a cop's unreleased book on Rajkumar's kidnapping.

Connecting Bharat
It's a project to bridge the digital divide. But sources of funding are not known.

CAPLOOKS

Prime Mover

Delhi: What chance does a river have against the PMO's will? When, a year ago, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) realised the Beas had begun to meander towards the airport at Bhuntur in Himachal Pradesh, they commissioned a study on "training" the river to control its course. They were told the bill would come to Rs 60 crore, and so decided it would be better to construct a new airport. Then the PMO began to take an interest in the matter following the prime minister's visit to his favourite resort, Manali, in May. The AAI has now decided to extend the runway from 3,000 to 4,500 ft. Oh, and the river will be "trained".

Economy Class Minister

Panaji: Sure signs of a politician on a flight: it will be delayed and the politician will come with a minimum of two chamchas. His seat: 1-A, executive class. Recently passengers of a Goa-Mumbai flight barely noticed the exception to the rule as a youngish-looking man walked in with his own trolley-bag. Name: Manohar Parrikar, chief minister of Goa. Seat: 27 E, economy class. Apparently, the Goa Cabinet passed a resolution recently barring ministers (except the chief minister) from flying executive class. Though exempted from the rule Parrikar too flies economy. But he is faced with a strange problem: every time he flies, the airline tries to get him upgraded. They haven't succeeded yet.

A Post For Each

Chandigarh: For Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, empowerment, like charity, begins at home. After getting himself elected president of the Haryana Olympic Association, Chautala now has younger son and MLA Abhey Chautala tipped to head the Devi Lal Memorial Trust to perpetuate his grandfather's memory. The Jat chieftain's elder son, an MP, recently made it to the top slot of the Indian Table Tennis Association. Chautala's "all-in-the-family" credo is going faster, higher and stronger.

Damsel Distress

Patna: Mamta Kulkarni may figure in other people's dreams, but to Laloo Prasad Yadav hers is an image for nightmares. On being told she was being invited for a "Filmstar Nite" by the RJD, the Bihar leader yelled, "Cancel the programme." Reason: In 1997 when a CBI team grilled Laloo in connection with the fodder scam, Kulkarni's name had figured frequently.

MetroScape

Mumbai Tribal Art: Murias

Pune Multiplex:
City Pride

Long considered politically naive, the Gujarat chief minister is a wiser man now. But the shrewdness would prove worthier if employed in matters of state, writes INDIA TODAY's Special Correspondent Uday Mahurkar in
Misplaced Guile