The Office of the Agricultural Counsellor at the Dutch embassy in New Delhi has been trying for days to get formal permission for a visit to the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal. On the morning that your reporter was already halfway to Karnal from New Delhi, the much-welcome telephone call was received: the Indian government had given its permission. That, however, was not all. Our reception at the institute went well. Problems, developments and progress were dealt with in quick succession. But the sting was in the tail. Because your reporter was from outside India, he was asked to pay the ‘entrance fee’ of 10 US dollars. Rather taken aback, he paid the money while thinking that such a system would provide quite a tidy income for an institute like NIZO in Ede or Wageningen UR.