INTRODUCTION 7 should focus on investment and efficiency in the infrastructure sectors. These include not only physical infrastructure and energy sources, but also human and social infrastructure, such as facilities for health, education and skill development, all of which are crucial for subsequent growth. Of course, the viability of such alternatives depends both on domestic political will and the extent to which the government is able to function independently of pressures from metropolitan capital. Thus, it is important to be aware of the co-ordinated international attacks on our national sovereignty in various international fora. Such attacks come not only from private metropolitan capital and the multilateral financial institutions, but also institutions like GA^T which increasingly represent the interests of the rich industrial countries and the US in particular. The dangers of accepting the current CATT proposals are brought out in the contributions by Surendra Patel and Deepak Nayyar. Both of these were originally statements to the Indian Group of Ministers on the Dunkel Draft for the completion of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations. Patel traces the background to the current proposals, and describes the international context which allows the rich industrial countries to push their demands in this manner. Nayyar provides some options for bargaining strategy given the unequal world order. It is evident from both of these pieces that acceptance of the proposals as they stand would not only compromise our national sovereignty and constrain the autonomy of domestic policy making, but also affect the long term development of the economy. This is particularly true in the areas of patent protection for technological development, subsidisation of agriculture for domestic food security and freedom of operation for multinational companies. It is clear that two processes are simultaneously at work in India today. The first is an attempt, by metropolitan capital and its votaries within the country, to incorporate the Indian economy closely into the workings of international capitalism, in such a way as to render any future attempt at autonomous and independent development unviable. The second is closely related, and is a thinly veiled attack on the living conditions and politico-economic strength of the poor and working classes of our country through the adoption of market-based structural adjustment policies. Resistance to both of these processes must come from an understanding of their true nature as well as the positing of feasible alternative strategies. This is the motivation behind the contributions to this issue. JAYATI GHOSH Centre for Economic Studies and Planning Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi