34 SOCIAL SCIENTIST ports; imports of consumption goods have to be severely frowned upon. Some restrictions on the use of petroleum products must be made operational. This should persuade us to take a closer look at the priorities currently determining our industrial and technological research programme. 22. (h) Clumsy official procedures which impair efficiency should be eliminated, but that does not mean that policies sanctioned by the nation aimed against industrial concentration should be cynically scuttled. The rich have not delivered growth, so why should we pamper them? Apart from other factors, a completely free economic system, bereft of the controls which operate even in the United States, will not go with the Indian milieu. Social consciousness is a function of time. Provided the affluent sections are permitted to enjoy continuous high living at the expense of the rest of the population, there might soon be a frightening explosion of popular wrath which totally engulf the polity. 23. (i) Finally, the authorities must be very, very careful before extending further the centralised model of economic administration they have increasingly fallen in love with. This model, with the Union government enjoying the commanding heights of decision-making and in total control of financial resources, now experimented with for more than three and a half decades, has fostered neither a satisfactory rate of growth over the long run nor increased regional balance, nor, for that matter, led to any equalisation of income and wealth between classes. Experience should suggest that a change is called for, and the constituent states of the Union be allowed increased powers and responsibilities so that they could try to accelerate the process of growth in their own manner and according to their own priorities within the broad framework of goals and objectives agreed upon at the national level. There is, instead, a trend in the reverse direction, with the Centre taking over functions which, according to the Constitution, legitimately belong to the states. The states represent linguistic and cultural entities of weighty proportions; they often reflect major ethnic emotions too. Certain things could be taken for granted at the time of independence. But times have changed, what was once inchoate consciousness is becoming ferociously articulate. If the central authorities fail to take note of these realities, not only will there be little growth, the entire system itself could be severely disturbed, leading both to enormous waste of national resources and to a considerable weakening of national unity. 24. One is tempted to add a last point. The nation must be led back to accountability and integrity. The decline in moral leadership has to be halted. But all this has to be accompanied by an openness in administration. We are at present told too little by the government about economic realities; policies and practices are undertaken and very important decisions, with major implications for the nation's future, are reached on the sly. Those who, without bothering to consult either