The finance minister's durbar
The Union finance minister, Yashwant Sinha, starts his pre-budget consultations with a cross section of organised interest groups.

Home market demand ebbs expectations
Hope seems to have ebbed at the turn of the year. The encouraging prognosis of the CII for the coming decade has been greeted with scepticism.

The year 2001 -- Back to the future
A Space Odyssey was Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick's vision of the ultimate evolution of artificial intelligence.

Millennium musings
This New Year's Eve was different. We decided we'de had enough of the usual song-and-dance routine which marked our December 31 outings in Calcutta, when we used to be regulars at the plush Tollygunge Club bash.