18 SOCIAL SCIENTIST undermines national intervention, it does not nullify the possibility of such intervention, at any rate not for large countries like India. This however calls for a change in the entire mode of organisational functioning of the socialist forces, the inculcation of greater democratic participation within them, and the innovations of popular institutions for democratic participation. Such innovations are not lacking in our country: the panchayats for example constitute a major institution for popular participation. It is necessary to build upon these to move forward rather than nostalgically hanker for a resuscitation of the conditions that prevailed in the earlier half of this century.