The people of Qara had written off their town's buried assets. More than 1,500 years earlier, residents had dug stonelined aqueducts

The National Democratic Alliance government did it-undermining the autonomy of a scientific department called the Archaeological Survey of India. The United Progressive Alliance has compounded it by withdrawing a scientific body's opinion on a matter on which it is eminently competent, and statutorily obliged, to give its view.

Barely a month goes by without a painting by an Australian aboriginal artist selling for a record price. But the beauty of those paintings that frequently grace Australia's art galleries and