70 SOCIAL SCIENTIST state in public welfare by pursuing policies, which will, apparently in the immediate context, benefit sections of the exploited masses but in the long run would actually maintain the power of the ruling classes. The implementation of the constitutional provisions has been uneven owing to the variations in the trends of development and has been confined to the sphere of education. Contrary to popular belief, the state has always spent less than one percent of the plan outlay on welfare schemes. These facilities have been mostly acquired by few families, mostly landowners and rich peasants. Apart from its analytical relevance, the merit of Pathy's work is that it is very informative and factual, annotated by a rich bibliography. However, the approach of this study remains limited due to its concern with the class structure in the chosen villages and the author's attempt at generalizations without any substantiation. It ignores the wider political economy whose linkages should have been identified. For it is in the context of disintegration by, and reintegration into, an externally controlled economic system that the tribes have to exist. Hence this book does not yield a satisfactorily- precise account of specifics, or a conceptual schema as tightly craftcd as it could have been. Nevertheless, in terms of setting the general intellectual climate for wider thought about vital lacunae in tribal studies, it succeeds well as a readable and provocative presentation. One is a bit uneasy and pessimistic with the alternatives offered by Pathy. Communal control and cooperative farming would again lead to a small elite acquiring welfare benefits due to the pattern of concentration of political and economic power. Here, two facts which could have been given more detailed attention are the experiment of democratic decentralization and of the impact of recent industrialization. Experience has shown that the former has led to more extensive exploitation of the scheduled tribes. Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishads have been reluctant to implement welfare schemes because most of their members have benefited from tribal exploitation. The establishment of heavy industries in areas within the tribal belt of Bengal. Bihar. Madhya Pradesh etc. has not only displaced the tribals from their lands but constituted them as a reserve of cheap labour, Finally, Pathy's analysis of state and class structure gives us no insight into their consciousness—class and ethnic, and the emerging activities and organizations of the tribals. The Indian government has attempted to extend a number of welfare benefits. Yet, it is here that we arc witnessing various ethnic groups trying to assert themselves as distinct entities. The uneven impact of colonialism had transformed the tribals in a more profound sense than is known so far. The loose amalgamation of interests which the Congress Party tried to achieve was facilitated through an assemblage of primordial loyalties like caste associations religious groups, and regional identities. This temporary alliance