“In one day, the mines use the same amount of water as the whole of Udaipur city consumes,” Mr Madan says.The drought situation has been aggravated by a large increase in water demand Indian society is changing. People are installing Western-style showers and buying washing machines. Water consumption is going up, and many charge that the authorities have simply pumped too much water out of the lake over the past eight years, blithely ignoring the falling water levels.The authorities have simply not done enough to protect the tourist industry, says Trilok Sharma. Mr Sharma works in an airy office in the City Palace complex of the former Maharanas. He works for the descendant of the royal family, who is today a wealthy hotelier and philanthropist, and who has been pushing for something to be done about the lake. Though Mr Sharma works on the philanthropic side, the Maharana’s stance is in his own interest – he owns two hotels in parts of the former City Palace.”Let me say it frankly,” says Mr Sharma. “The state government, as well as the central government, is not serious about the development of tourism.

It really is a great sorrow.” Looking at the sadly depleted Lake Pichola, once one of the jewels in India’s tourist crown, it is hard not to agree with him “Udaipur has two lifelines,” he says “The biggest is tourism The second is mining Tourism accounts for 60 per cent of the local economy. Mining accounts for 20 per cent.”Put like that, it is hard to justify the continuing mining which, whatever the truth in Mr Madan’s assertions about its effect on rainfall, is wrecking the landscape around Udaipur. Already one historic fort has been demolished to make way for the mining.But the state government is now, at last, taking steps in the right direction, say the people of Udaipur. They have started a major programme of reforestation for the denuded hills.

Refilling Lake Pichola has been made the top priority, and the authorities have pledged to remove any villagers’ dams that are blocking the flow of water. They have also pledged to stop pumping drinking water out of the lake until it is restored to its former level.Riding on horseback over the green lake-bed, Mr Joseph, the executive at the Lake Palace, says: “You know, some guests have told me Udaipur doesn’t need its lake. It still has so much to offer.” He points to the wild horses grazing “You would never see them if the lake was full They wouldn’t come down from the hills The palace still has so much to offer.” And he is right. Even as he speaks, a traditional musical troupe is preparing to use the dry lake- bed as a performance area to entertain the guests.But Mr Joseph is also a realistic man “It’s a matter of perception,” he says.

“People will not come to Udaipur if they hear the lake has dried up.”. A British woman was among three UN election officials kidnapped in Afghanistan yesterday when gunmen ran their vehicle off the road in Kabul and bundled them into a car. The attacks have raised the prospect of an exodus of expatriates who are relied on for reconstruction work.The kidnapping came on the day final of results from a largely peaceful election three weeks ago. The foreigners had been training Afghans to work as election monitors and were expected to fly home within days.Spokesmen for the Taliban and other Islamic terrorist groups, including one group called the Jaish-e-Muslimeen, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.The strike was the first time Westerners have been abducted in the city, although embassy warnings of kidnappings had circulated before voting and road engineers have been abducted and then released outside the capital One analyst said: “This is completely new. It looks like a copycat from Iraq.”The Taliban and their allies had not previously been thought capable of such an operation and observers said that warlords may have masterminded the kidnapping to embarrass the newly elected President, Hamid Karzai.Speaking in London, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, played down suggestions that the kidnapping might be the start of a new trend. “I have no reason to believe it will be anything other than unusual for the future.

I think it will stay unusual,” he said.Ms Flanigan is an experienced election worker who also helped set up elections in Africa. As a result, Israel might resist the opening of roads and checkpoints necessary for fully successful national elections to preserve the status quo, perhaps using the device of three-man transitional leadership to promote its favoured candidate.Mr Jawad was not convinced that Mr Barghouti represents a clean break with Mr Arafat’s methods but acknowledged that if the Israelis released him he would be a “real contender”. GfK Martin Hamblin, the market research group, said its monthly confidence measure edged up to minus 6 in October from minus 7, as consumers grew more optimistic about the outlook for their own finances over the next 12 months. That compares with Gordon Brown’s forecasts of 3 to 3.5 per cent growth in each year. The NIESR also predicted inflation of 1.4 per cent this year, picking up to the Bank’s target of 2 per cent in 2005 as higher wages, a weaker pound and rising oil prices feed through.A separate survey showed consumer confidence brightened slightly this month after hitting its lowest level in more than a year in September.