SOCIAL SCIENTIST The paper by Kristoffel Lieten deals with yet another theoretical justification which is advanced in favour of structural adjustment, namely that it would bring large inflows of direct foreign investment into the Third World under the aegis of the multinational corporations and thereby enable them to break out of their backwardness. Lieten marshals a host of evidence to show that the MNCs have not been, and can not be expected to be, the "battering rams" for breaking down the barriers of backwardness. Indeed wherever significant development has taken place within the Third World, it has occurred mainly on the basis of internal resources and through the strategic intervention by the Third World state. Atis Dasgupta's paper traces the historical background to the emergence of ethnic tensions in the Darjeeling hills and the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland. While the formation of an autonomous Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council was an innovative step taken by the Left Front government of West Bengal, the unsatisfactory performance of the Council under the GNLF has once again fanned the flames of ethnic exclusiveness and revived the demand for a separate state. Dasgupta underscores the destructive potential of any such agitation for the economy of the region and argues forcefully that only a combination of class struggle and further democratic devolution of power to the people can succeed in meeting the genuine grievances of the people of the hill region. Finally we publish a rejoinder by Prasenjit Bose to the review article of Javeed Alam on the Leftword Books publication A World to Win which had appeared in our special number on the Communist Manifesto. We would welcome further discussion on the several issues raised by Alam in his review article.