Editor's Note: 
Among the topics covered in this issue, we have two summits—one economic, the India Economic Summit, and the other political, the SAARC summit—and the state visit of Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic to India. Read the Note. 
  

India Economic Summit 2005
The 21st India Economic Summit, organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the World Economic Forum, was held in November in New Delhi with participants including CEOs, and political and business leaders from India and abroad Read the Article. 
 

13th SAARC Summit: Dhaka 2005
SAARC has failed to extricate itself from the influence of Indo-Pak relations. In its twenty years, the organisation has made no difference to the lives of peoples whose lot it promised to improve. A slew of commissions and committees, but none is fully functional. A project at the regional level is still a distant dream. Coordination is almost absent, as mistrust and suspicion dominates the atmosphere. Besieged in bilateral disputes, the organisation is shackled in stagnation; whereas, similar groupings in other parts of the world have forged their way far ahead.  Read the Article. 

  Discoursing on SAARC 
    The 13th SAARC Summit at Dhaka concluded with approval for inclusion of China and Japan as ‘observers’, and Afghanistan as the group’s eighth member. Will this make any difference in the functioning of SAARC? What are the possibilities of the Free Trade Agreement that is set to take off in the region in January 2006? Diplomatist Editor Chandra Prabha explores these issues with the Bangladesh High Commissioner Liaquat Ali Choudhury in New Delhi. Excerpts.    Read an interview.
   

A Royal Guest 
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, is the Chief Guest at the Indian Republic Day Parade on 26 January 2006. India attaches immense significance to H.M. King Abdullah’s visit, which marks a trip by a Saudi King to India after more than five decades. The visit will provide an excellent opportunity for India and Saudi Arabia to further explore ways in enhancing cooperation. Read the article.  
  
  King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud
    Read the Note.
   

Czech Presidential Visit: November 2005
Bilateral ties between the Czech Republic and India recently received a new impetus with the weeklong state visit of Czech President Vaclav Klaus to India in November 2005. The official visit to India reaffirmed the excellent relations between Indian and the Czech Republic, and further strengthened trade cooperation. It was a presidential visit after 11 years (Vaclav Havel, 1994), but President Klaus has visited India as Chief of Parliament five years ago.  Read the Article.     
   
  Face to Face with Jaromir Novotny, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India 
    Read an interview.   
     

Sri Lanka, Inc.
In an exclusive interview, Sri Lankan Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Rohitha Bogollagama Read an interview. 
  

Aruna Dalmia: Empowered Vision
Akshay Pratishthan has gone from strength to strength and has emerged as a name synonymous with selfless social service. Today the organization’s ambit of work involves a wide range of activities ... That’s not all. The institution also makes a concerted effort to get these students with disabilities proper placements. Read the Article.
  

Rohinton Mistry: A journey less ordinary 
One of the foremost voices in the realm of modern Indian writing in English, Rohinton Mistry can be held at par with the likes of Salman Rushdie, Vikram Seth, R.K. Narayan and Arundhati Roy. His three novels reflect the deep-rooted angst, trauma and struggles of post-independence middle class India, with uncommon passion and dexterity...  Read the Article.  
  
  Deconstructing the deconstruction: A Fine Balance
    Read the Note. 
    

Bharatpur: a destination for the Birds 
Read the Article.
  

Birds of Prey 
The H5N1 avian flu virus spreads rapidly among poultry but rarely infects humans. Six people died in Hong Kong in 1997. The virus has already killed thousands of birds in Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea prompting Hong Kong and Cambodia to ban poultry imports from affected countries. Read the Article.
   

The Call of Uttaranchal
Industry in Uttaranchal has been proactively engaged in the task of ensuring employment to the local youth. All industry associations have agreed to employ up to 80 percent of the work force from within the state; which has made the industrial relations environment a model for other states to replicate   Read the Article.
       
  Face to Face with Shri Narayan Datt Tiwari (Uttaranchal Chief Minister)
    Read an interview. 
   

Celebrating films, celebrating Goa!
The 36th International Film Festival of India was held in Goa from 24 Nov to 04 Dec 2005. The scenic environs of Goa served as the perfect setting for such a cultural fest, and the eleven-day extravaganza attracted a galaxy of Bollywood and international film personalities. Overall, the aesthetic ambience at the 36th IFFI was pepped up with lively music, performed by various local bands of Goa, which endowed the festival with a distinct identity.  Read the Article.     
     

Masters of the Cloth
Since the early days of overseas trade, Indian cloth has driven economy in the region. Indian cloth was imported in East Asia since the 1st Century. It was not only highly valued, it was used as alternate currency in cloth-for-spices trade from east to west.   Read the Article. 
  

Home-Grown Cosmetics Creaming the Rest 
The 1993 International beauty pageants adjudged Indians as the best, with the Miss Universe title going to Sushmita Sen and Miss World to Aishwarya Rai. The events had a strong influence on young minds, even though their exact impact cannot be measured. This was the first such experience for India, and perhaps for Asia. A spate of more such beauty laurels—Diana Hayden (Miss World 1997), Yukta Mookhey (Miss World 1999), Priyanka Chopra (Miss World 2000), and Lara Dutta (Miss Universe 2000)—and the associated media glitz awakened an entire generation to new desires.  Read the Article.  
  
  Perfume Power
    A perfume never goes unnoticed. Its mysterious pull over our moods has always been experienced.   Read the article. 
    

Snapshots 
Read the details.
  

India News 2005 
Read the details.