BOOK REVIEW 75 in demand for consumer goods and on the ®ther» to an increase in the availability of machinery for the production of consumer goods. However, there were certain snags which were overlooked by the planners. They seemed to have wigsed Ac point that any increase in* the investment sector would call for a greater production of basic consumption goods, which the economy was not able to cope with. This would make the perfect setting for an inflationary situation. The planners' attitude was that it would remain a short-term phenomenon and when the investment goods production increased the consumption goods sector would also expand. This is where the hitch came. A question which should have been raised but did not come up was why should the entrepreneurs invest in the production of essential commodities instead of luxury goods when the profit in the^ latter is temptingly greater? It would have given early preanoirition of the (antasstic increase in the prices of essential commodities. And at the end of the day, this is exactly what came to pass. Technology that was imported to expand the luxury goods output was an impediment to progress even if it is assumed fora moment that progress would otherwise have come about. The Indian context would thus show that no matter what the government plans and aims to do, the measures taken will ultimately be in the interests of the ruling class, entailing a certain class bias in government policies. It is probably for this reason that the author, in spite of the title's premises, chooses to confine his study to mere concepts and assorted data without dealing wilh the consequences and implications of the facts and figures. Few Cars in China! Finally, in discussing China, Behari keeps on with his political bias. While acknowledging the economic development of China, he holds the view that a lack of economic freedom and control of prices are responsible for it. He seems to think that controlled prices constitute an attack on the free play of market forces. It is here that the class positions become clearly identified. The sneer at the scarcity of motor cars in China is matched by the silence on the freedom to starve in India. In conformity with confining the terms of reference within the framework of the present system, the author shows China's example and tells us that progress can be achieved here without at any time envisaging a change in the Indian 'free price' system. The ^m change* apologists not only sound ridiculous, they fail to make a reasonable analysis of the problems of our time. NARENDAR PANI