Given the particle content of the standard model without and with a right-handed neutrino, the requirement that all anomalies cancel singles out a set of possible global symmetries which can be gauged. I review this topic and propose a new gauge symmetryB — 3L_T in the context of the minimal standard model consisting of the usual three families of quarks and leptons plus just onev_R. The many interesting phenomenological consequences of this hypothesis are briefly discussed.

This report summarises the activities of the working group on ‘Physics beyond the Standard Model’. The results of investigations in incorporatingR-parity in grand unification, the possibility of a light charged Higgs boson in extension of MSSM and radiative generation of neutral vector boson self-couplings within the MSSM are described. Also given is an account of activities in neutrino physics, namely a proposal for a study of the atmospheric muon anomaly in deep underground mines, a field theoretic study of neutrino oscillations and a mechanism to generate appropriate masses of three active plus one sterile neutrino species.

I review some of the recent progress (up to December 2005) in applying non-Abelian discrete symmetries to the family structure of leptons, with particular emphasis on the tribimaximal mixing ansatz of Harrison, Perkins and Scott.