74 SOCIAL SCIENTIST • Budget deficits together with perverse investment priorities are leading to inflation and imports of foodgrains, edible oils and sugar to hold the price line. This enhances the external debt even further. These developments have not occurred because there was no alternative. That alternative must begin with a restoration of faith in planning, purposeful interventionism and public investment policies aimed at immediately reversing the present trends. In the short term, import restrictions are a must to prevent further burgeoning of debt. Till such time that demand can be managed in keeping with our potential, the splurge in consumption by a few at the expense of the majority must be curbed by restricting access. / This must be accompanied by a process of fiscal restructuring that both helps raise resources as well as curbs luxury consumption. The principal element of such a restructuring must be a return to reliance on direct taxes and indirect taxes on non-essentials as the main means of mobilising resources. The deficit on the Central Government's budget must be reduced, without adversely affecting the resources of the states. The immediate management of domestic demand that this would permit must be followed up with an effort at mending the distortion in the production structure. An appropriate wages, incomes and prices policy should aim at redressing the sharp variations in growth in per capita incomes even among the employed. In agriculture, land reforms accompanied by cooperativisation and a guaranteed minimum wage are a must to restore incentives among small and marginal farmers as well as agricultural labourers for the creation of a viable and vibrant agriculture. Further, through appropriate investments in irrigation and infrastructure and easy access to credit, an effort must be made to redress the glaring regional imbalances that characterise rural India. All of this would result in the enhancement of domestic demand, including the demand for manufactures which would provide the base to build up a more efficient and self-reliant industry. A rational technology policy, based on a long term perspective of India's strengths and opportunities must be worked out. Given rapid technological advances the world over, such a policy should choose selected areas, promote R & D investments in materials and design right up to the component level and reduce technological dependence. A prerequisite for this is a restructuring of the educational system and realization of universal literacy in the shortest possible time. These measures must be accompanied by a greater emphasis on socialised consumption, so as to prevent the tendency towards excess resource use by a few at the expense of the viability of the growth process itself. A specific instance that may be mentioned here is transport, where the emphasis should be on cheap, mass transit systems, rather than a proliferation of personal vehicles. This is crucial not only because of the observed increases in the energy intensity of consumption in