UNION BUDGET: Miles of Smiles, Inches of Frowns 
This year’s union budget, presented by our Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in Parliament, on 28 February 2006, has an accent on welfare without compromising on growth measures...  Read the Article. 
 

QUOTA INTERNATIONAL: Empowered Vision 
Founded in 1919 as the first international women’s service organization, Quota’s membership today includes men as well as women in clubs across North America, South America, the South Pacific, Europe, South-east Asia, and the Caribbean. However, even today in the world of Quota, it is the ladies who call the shots.  Read the Feature. 
  

INDIA-KAZAKHSTAN: Ties Pick Up Momentum 
The visiting scholars, Dr Bulat K Sultanov, Director, Kazakhastan Institute for Strategic Studies and Dr Leila M Muzaparova, Deputy Director, Institute of World Economics and Policy at the First Kazakhastan President Foundation, were accompanied by HE Kairat Umarov, Kazakhastan’s Ambassador to India. Emphasising on the exchange of knowledge, former Ambassador to Russia (and earlier, High Commissioner to Bangladesh) K. Raghunath, Vice President, ICAF, said that both the countries would build up a database of information, which would be available to the scholars and business entrepreneurs of all the countries of the region.  Read the Article.
  

Innovative Indo-Danish NGO Partnership
The achievements illustrate the potential of NGOs as important contributors of development in both India and Denmark and why they are increasingly recognised as such.  Read the Article.  
  

Indo-Spanish Trade Relations in the Electronics and ICT Sector
The liberalisation process started by the Indian Government in the early nineties is structurally changing the economy and greatly increasing its current and potential growth, heralding a bright and promising future. India offers a wealth of business and investment opportunities that Spanish enterprises wish now to develop.  Read the Article. 
  

Chile Walks Towards the Left
The outcome of the Presidential elections held in Chile in January 2006 created history when Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria became not only the first woman President of Chile but also the first elected woman President of a Latin American country. Though Bachelet is the first woman ever to be elected President by popular vote in South America, there are two precedents of women Presidents in Latin America: Argentina’s María Estela Martínez, better known as Isabel Perón, took over the Presidency in 1974 upon the death of her husband Juan Domingo Perón but was overthrown from power only two years later by a military coup, and in Bolivia, then Chamber of Deputies Speaker Lidia Gueiler was appointed as interim President in November 1979 but was removed from office by a military junta in July 1980. It seems Bachelet’s future reign—which has been endorsed by popular support—will be much more enduring in the stable political climate of Chile.  Read the Article. 
  

Hampi: A Site Well Worth Seeing Before Leaving India 
What we call Hampi today, was Vijayanagar in the 14th and 15th centuries and capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom – a kingdom that covered the entire areas of the current states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Hampi exceeded our expectations ...  Read the Feature. 
   

Béla Bartók  
Béla Viktor János Bartók is considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century and was one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology: the study of folk music and the music of non-Western cultures...  Read the Feature.  
  

Season of Diplomacy 
The year began with visits of three European prime ministers literally one after another: Czech Republic Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, 16–18 January; Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, 17–21 January; and Dutch Prime Minister Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende, 18–20 January. We bring you a visual representation of the highlights of their trips...  Read the Cover Story.  
  

A Response to The Da Vinci Code from Opus Dei 
The Da Vinci Code has raised public interest in the origins of the Bible and of central Christian doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus Christ. These topics are important and valuable to study, and we hope that interested readers will be motivated to study some of the abundant scholarship on them that is available in the non-fiction section of the library. Read the Opinion Piece.
  

Academic Without Being Pedantic 
Indian Foreign Affairs Journal is the first journal of its kind and definitely caters to a long-felt need in academic circles. The journal, which was launched by the Indian Prime Minister on 15 February 2006, provides an intellectually stimulating forum for authentic, scholarly, and policy-oriented perspectives on India’s emerging dimensions of engagement with the world. Read the Book Review.
 

Updates from the Asian Development Bank
DB will help the Government of India develop and improve the country’s cities through a US$2 million technical assistance grant.   Read the Article.
  

Cézanne
Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th Century Impressionism and early 20th Century’s most startling new line of artistic enquiry, namely Cubism  Read the Feature.