EXCLUSIVE!
Ek tu hi bharosa
rediff.com proudly presents the world premiere of Lata Mangeshkar's song for Boney Kapoor's Pukar. This is the first time a music video is being premiered on the Internet in India, before being screened on the television channels.

NEWS
Government abandons plan to withdraw NSG cover to 30 politicians
Sources said the politically irksome decision, taken in the wake of the hijack crisis, will now "be considered at a suitable time".

NEWS
No hijack victim visits post-trauma cell
'Maybe some of the passengers might have turned up at AIIMS for medical treatment, but those, in most cases, have been minor problems that a physician can treat and which does not need the attention of the special cell,' said Dr D K Sharma, deputy medical superintendent at AIIMS.

NEWS
Rupin's family yet to come to terms with his loss
'Do you really think it is fair on a 20-year-old girl having to suffer like this? But I tell you, she will survive, because we all want her to get over the tragedy,' says his grandfather, 75-year-old Mulk Raj Katyal.

NEWS
No Bharat Award for bravery this year
'This year we found there were far too many cases of children saving someone from drowning. The other acts of bravery were also not up to the mark,' ICCW chairperson Sunita Gadgil said.

SPECIAL
The Naxal connection
Some Maoist leaders have contacts in Pakistan and, if a deal is struck between them and the ISI, Nepal, which till now has only been a passive witness to Pakistani operations, may have to pay a heavy price.

INTERVIEW
'Baripada is now my home'
'I have received hundreds of letters in the last year which clearly mention that what happened was not Hinduism,' says Gladys Staines.

BUSINESS
Indo-Pak tensions push rupee to all-time low
The State Bank of India's dollar selling helped the currency to stage a modest recovery at Rs 43.6050/6150 from its lowest level of Rs 43.64/65.

BUSINESS INTERVIEW
'Marketing through the Net will become intuitive and thought-driven'
'India will capture the global change in attitude and ideas. India has the potential, technology will be the means, to become truly global. We can take on each Americans one-to-one and beat them to pulp,' says Seagram Asia-Pacific chairman Ramesh Vangal.

MONEY
'Can I gift shares to my daughter on her wedding without any tax liability?'
Answers to this and many other Indian tax issues.

MONEY
A cut above the rest
Information on the Net and cheaper revolving credit -- that's the advantage ICICI Bank credit cards hold, says Larissa Fernand.

SPORTS
Jadeja -- not here, not there, simply everywhere
He is not attached to the Haryana association. There is no record of his registration with the J&K association. But with the likes of Union Minister Arun Jaitley, national selector Madan Lal, and former opener Chetan Chauhan rooting for him, the India star continues to ride roughshod over the rules.

MOVIES
'Josh is a youth-oriented film'
Mansoor Ali on brother Shah Rukh, sister Aishwarya.

MOVIES
Deviri goes past the censors
The film now readies for a Feb release.

CHAT
'Had they stormed the plane, the casualties would have been much much higher'
'And we would not have gained anything, because of the kind of arms and ammunition they had inside the aircraft.' Captain Devi Sharan recalls events on Flight IC-814, a month after the hijack.

MUSIC
We love to sing and dance
A report on the W2K concert in Bombay.

BOOKS
A story of our times
'An American in Khadi is a story we must all read, for it poses and answers questions which we must all ask and try to resolve,' says Tom Alter.

COLUMNS
China doesn't matter: Part II
'If India wants to try, foolishly, to appease China, as she appeared to do in the case of the Tibetan boy-monk, let her do so with her eyes wide open to the realities of a threadbare China, not because of Chinese posturing, bluster and theater,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.

To market, to market
Ashok Mitra on the significance of being India.

Fortune cookies
Abhilasha Khaitan on the unwisdom of waiting for Lady Luck's favours.

Umpiring means never having to say you are sorry!
V Gangadhar looks at some of the umpiring controversies of the summer Down Under. And presents views from leading umpires on issues ranging from apologies for wrong decisions, to chucking, to an increasing role for the television adjudicator.