Assam- Curfew and After

expenditure of the eighth decile of the population would grow by 9 per cent, that of ninth decile would be frozen at the 1973-74 level, that of the next five per cent would be made to decline by 7 to 8 per cent and that of the top 5 per cent of the population would be forced down dramatically by 20 per cent. As if this was not breath-taking enough, it was further suggested that the declines envisaged would be steeper for the relevant deciles of the rural population than of the urban population. Additions to and substra- ctions from incomes and consumption become a simple matter if society is arranged into deciles instead of comprising of social and economic classes of vastly varying power and authority. These attitudes, it is .apparent, stubbornly persist. Thus the Prime Minister's noble wish to even out the unequal distribution of the benefits of agricultural growth between few rich and the many poor notwithstanding, there has been no mention at all of land reform. Nor is there evidence of any desire to contain the growth of concentration of economic power. Instead, what is being emphasised is the importance of measures to add further to the inducements for private savings.