CONTENTS

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Phones 266072/73 Grams Econweekly Editor Krishna Raj Assistant Editors Padma Prakash, Bernard D'Mello Editorial Staff Cleatus Antony, Prabha Pillai Gautam Navlakha (Delhi) Circulation A S Shetty, B S Sharma Advertisement Manager S G S Subramanian Manager K Vijayakumar Vol XXIV No 32 August 12, 1989 Caste: Change and Continuity In the mid-1950s in Khalapur in western UP, about 100 miles north of Delhi, the central issues in the discourse on caste were educational and occupational access for low-caste and untouchable people, and practices of untouchability like using wells, sitting as equals or sitting hierarchically, giving and taking of food and water, sharing waterpipes together, and so on. Has the discourse on caste changed over the past 30 years? If so, in what way? Khalapur revisited. 1831 Despite many political and administrative changes, in many ways time has stood still in Surendranagar in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The continuities were brutally emphasised on May 20, 1989 by the killing in broad daylight of two persons from the backward Gadhvi community in Devlia village for the singular crime of digging a well on their own land. 1812 Forestry and Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism and western biases have long been identified as sources of inappropriate and unsuccessful development efforts. Forestry offers an interesting case study of professional ethnocentrism and its adverse effects. The ideology of renewable resource management is so comprehensive, so explicitly preached, and has for a long period of time been so fervently adhered to that it provides a particularly useful focus for this type of inquiry. A study of American forestry professionalism in the third world. 1839 Technology Politics Is the slogan leap-frogging into the 21st century' realty as apolitical in its approach to development as it is made out to be? Will it spur the young people of India to work towards an environment that encourages innovation, hard work, sacrifice and even dreaming? And where has this new ideology emerged from? 1815 Policy-makers and scientists in the third world can no longer afford to be naive about the political significance of biotechnology in the next decade and need to pay close attention to the World Bank's initiatives to sow the seeds of a new biorevolution in the third world. 1819 DRC: A Closer Look The increased use of domestic resource cost (DRC) in analysis of economic policy changes in India has been welcomed as a step towards efficient resource allocation. It is necessary, however, to be clear about the specific deficiencies of the present DRC estimation practices and to consider alternatives which could be adapted in analyses of DRC-based comparative advantage of Indian industry. 1845 Non-Payment Campaign Pays The BJP's loan-waiver campaign in Madhya Pradesh has proved to be a striking success. The gimmick has caught the imagination of the rural people and is causing sleepless nights to Congress(l) leaders. 1823 Paying Peter and Paul Poland's high indebtedness simultaneously to the developed capitalist countries as well as to the CMEA countries complicates the task of finding a solution to the problem of the country's foreign debt. 1827 An American Idea The rhetoric currently being employed in some socialist countries would suggest that the free inflow of foreign capital is not as dangerous as a free newspaper. No wonder American ideas are dominant everywhere, for that is a typical American idea. 1808 Paying for the Showpiece Unlike other towns and cities in the country, Delhi does not have to worry about where the money for its civic amenities comes from. There are, after all, some 800 million Indians to foot the bill for maintaining the nation's capital as a showpiece. 1809 Sri Lankan Misadventure 1799 Politics: In True Colours-External Debt: