Coping with post-Pokharan anxiety
Before we know the substance of the series of talks Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott are embarked on, one thing is already clear: New Delhi is being engaged at a fairly high level to sort out the post-Pokharan II scenario.

Easier than you thought
Jyoti Basu characterised the decision of his party's central committee not to allow him to become prime minister as a "historic blunder". He has in the past few weeks gone a step further and called for the review of what he terms the half-century of hostile Congress-communist relations.

Timidity on insurance
The government is very reluctant to open up insurance and it shows. Yashwant Sinha may have promised in his budget speech to allow the private sector through but in the weeks since, the door has remained shut.

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