SOCIAL SCIENTIST VOLUME 27 NUMBERS 7-8. JULY-AUGUST 1999 ADVISORY EDITORS EDITORIAL BOARD Ashok Mitra Madhu Prasad Amalendu Guha Utsa Patnaik Irfan Habib D. Raghunandan Amiya Bagchi C.P. Chandrasekhar Kishore Theckedath Jacob Eapen CONTRIBUTING EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR Thomas Isaac Rajendra Prasad Atis Dasgupta Javeed Alam EDITOR V.K. Ramachandran Prabhat Patnaik Vcnkatesh Athreya CIRCULATION &c ADVERTISEMENT EDITORIAL OFFICE 35A/1 (3rd floor) Shahpur Jat, 35A/1 (3rd floor) Shahpur Jat, """ ;e, New Delhi 110049 Near Asiad Village, Phone: 649 7999, 649 1448 New Delhi 110 049 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Inland Foreign (In US Dollars) Single issue Rs. 20 Annual: Double issue Rs. 30 Air mail 60 Annual (individuals) Rs. 200 Sea mail 50 Annual (institutions &t libraries) Rs. 350 Annual (students) Rs. 125 2 years (individuals) Rs. 300 3 years (individuals) Rs. 400 (Rs. 20 extra if by outstation cheque) ISSN 0970 - 0293 Social Scientist is listed in the International Current Awareness Services and its contents are indexed in the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. This issue is printed in November 1999 Printed and distributed by Tulika Print Communication Services Pvt. Ltd. 35A/1 (3rd floor) Shahpur Jat, Near Asiad Village, New Delhi 110 049