WOMEN AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT IN INDIA 33 participatory democracy*. It is sad that these two terms are never seen in any of the new jargons circulated by advocates of SAP. It is very important to situate the economic crisis and NEP-SAP within the matrix of the political economy of India and analyse their repercussions on internal socio-political and cultural conditions in the short and long run. Austerity measures are opposed by the majority of toiling masses and elements of intelligentsia in the third world. In India this dissent has been expressed in public by the women's groups in their leaflets, an open letter to the finance minister by Forum of Women and Politics on March 8,1992 and rallies in different towns and cities of India. The forthcoming National Conference of Women's Movement in India is going to concentrate on gender implications of SAP. But in most of the countries where SAP has been implemented, democratic institutions are virtually non-existent. In such a situation what happens to the dissenting voices? Commenting on the African situation Sawyer (1990) states, 'it is hardly surprising that military regimes and authoritarian civilian governments whether of the one-party no party or multi-party variety provide the political conditions most conducive to the maintenance of the current crop of SAPs in Africa.' In Latin America also, the situation is more or less the same. The regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America resort to ruthless repression when the urban and poor working class raise their voice against price-rise, unemployment and cuts in public services. Democratic institutions in India, especially the print media and the plural politics have allowed open debate on this issue from which, let us hope, a developmental model will emerge that is ecologically sensitive, women friendly and which ensures sustainable development with distributive justice. REFERENCES Agarwal, Bina (1985) 'Women Poverty and Agricultural Growth', Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4, July. AWRAN (1985) The Alternative Asian Report on the Impact of the UN Decade for Women, Asian Women's Research and Action Network, Philippines. Banerjee, Nirmala (1977) 'Exports and the Indian Economy', Economic and. Political Weekly vol. 12, No. 15-16 April. Banerjee, Nirmala (1992) Indian Women in a Changing Industrial Scenario, Sage Publications, London. Batliwale, Srilata (1984) 'Rural Energy Situation—Consequences for Women's Health', Bombay, Socialist Health Review, Vol. 1, No. 2. D'Cunha, Jean (1991) Prostitution in India, Joint Women's Programme, Delhi. Dennis, Carolyne (1991) 'Constructing a Career' Under Conditions of Economic Crisis and Structural Adjustment: The Survival Strategies on Nigerian Women, in Haleh Afsher (ed) Women, Development and Survival in the Third World, Longman Desai, Neera and Vibhuti Patel (1990) Indian Women—Change and Challenge, Populator Publications, Bombay; see Introduction.