A Game Of Farce
Milkha Singh's refusal to accept the Arjuna Award has sparked off a heated debate over the country's highest sporting honour. This year's controversial list is being seen as the straw that broke the camel's back. Leading sports people believe the award has been devalued and compromised by political lobbying.

A Leader Reformed
A.K. Antony, a one-time Nehruvian socialist, is winning the support of industry as well as Central funds in his new avatar as the harbinger of reforms in the economically beleaguered state.

Family Bride
Poor sex ratio has forced the Gurjjars of Rajasthan to share their wives.

FROM THE EDITOR IN CHIEF

Sports stinks in India. Something which should be the pride of the nation is so often a cause for shame. So, when the well-known athlete Milkha Singh who very narrowly failed to win an Olympic medal in 1960 cries foul over the Arjuna Award the stench of all that is rotten in Indian sports engulfs us again.

It tells us why a billion-strong nation had to remain content with one measly bronze medal in last year's Sydney Olympics. It tells us why we are not able to transform the talented into champions. Like most other institutions, the story of Indian sports is a familiar tale of nepotism, sloth and incompetence. Most important, it is also afflicted by the greatest Indian curse-politicisation. Sports administrators become more important than sportspersons and promote their own selfish interests rather than the sports they are meant to oversee.

Associate Editor Sharda Ugra, who has often complained of the enormous public indifference to all sports other than cricket and tennis, brought her considerable knowledge of India's neglected sportsmen and women into this week's story. Our story chronicles how the Arjuna Awards-a good idea when they were initiated way back in 1961-have been so utterly devalued. "The story would be quite farcical if it wasn't so terribly tragic," says Ugra.

Meanwhile, we have started an initiative to bring news closer to the younger generation. In May this year, we launched a magazine titled India Today Advantage, which has been distributed free to select schools. It is a bold and innovative concept to help students make sense of the changes taking place around them. Hopefully, it will foster an abiding interest in current affairs.

(Aroon Purie)

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Delhi Restaurant:
Singh Sahib

Chennai Exhibitions: Apparao Galleries

Bangalore Space Ride: Thrillarium

Delhi Maps: Dastkari Haat Samiti

Delhi Play: Neil Simon

Delhi Textiles: Out of the Cocoon