Cover Story

Operation Sarp Vinash: The Hype and the Folly
by Praveen Swami
The plight of Gujjars
Behind Special Group III
Kargil 'heroes'

India & Pakistan
Hesitant steps towards peace

Sri Lanka
Peace on a short fuse
LTTE's politics of brinkmanship

Diplomacy
Vajpayee in Europe
Advani's crusade in the U.S.

Party Affairs
BJP's masks and mascots

Public Sector Undertakings
Coal India under a cloud

World Affairs
Strategic games in South Asia
by Rahul Bedi
Turmoil in Nepal
A summer of strikes in France
Chaos in Iraq
Blair's troubles
by Michael Hindley
The G-8 Summit in Evian
Obstacles to West Asian peace
Towards Cancun
by Walden Bello
St. Petersburg tricentenary

Travel
Along the Sutlej
by Sudha Mahalingam

Books

A magnum opus on Tamil-Brahmi script
review by Prof. R. Champakalakshmi
Mysteries of the Indus Valley
review by Parvathi Menon

Review Article
C.P. and independent Travancore
by A.G. Noorani

Reports
State and terrorism — Punjab's record

Art
Artists against imperialism
by Suneet Chopra

Controversy
The end of the Media Lab Asia
Interview: Arun Shourie

Media
Sashi Kumar on CAS

Medicine
Surgical feats, live from Chennai

Special Feature: The Great Arc

Celebrating a survey saga
Interview: Prof. V.S. Ramamurthy
Stations of the Arc
Interview: Dr. Prithvish Nag

Economic Perspectives
IteS and hard facts
by C.P. Chandrasekhar

The Cauvery Dispute
A non-official initiative

Column
Bhaskar Ghose: Sovereignty under threat
Jayati Ghosh: Keeping a watch on our institutions
K. Natwar Singh: Defining a great leader
R.K. Raghavan: On intelligence failures
Praful Bidwai: Critical moment for India

Update
Narmada: A protest and some promises
Suu Kyi under detention