NEW technologies are accelerating the shift of power away from traditional voices of authority in journalism and politics. New media designers predict that the day-to-day mass audience will splinter further into niches because people will want to create their own customised flow of information. In politics, citizens are already treated as demographic niches, and their common values are rarely addressed. Candidates and political interest groups deepen our divisions by fashioning single-issue appeals to narrow voter populations.

Lady at the wheel!
Roopinder Singh
"ARE we doing all right?" Catch any guy saying that! They were eager, nervous but determined. Manning (yes it still a guy thing) one of the PC (passage control) points at the recently concluded women’s motoring rallies was quite an experience. There were two such rallies. The one in Chandigarh had 138 participants and was a local rally.

Pong Lake: Popular with winged visitors
Rajendra Rajan
IT’S a winter morning. An intense cold breeze grips the visitors as sun begins to unfold gradually on the vast Pong reservoir. Winged guests from Siberia and Central Asian countries slowly start descending on the blue waters. By noon one can see the entire expanse of the Shahnahar barrage dotted with dark ‘pearls’.