SOCIAL SCIENTIST explored themes. The paper by Deepak Kumar, which contains the text of his Presidential address to the Modern Indian History section of the Indian History Congress in Calicut, takes up these themes and outlines an agenda for research in this area. A particularly interesting issue raised in the paper is the view held by many practising scientists, notably P.C.Ray, that the consolidation of the caste-structure, with its separation of mental from manual work, was responsible for the decline of the scientific spirit in India. Certain related issues are also raised in Biplab Dasgupta's piece on Trade in Pre-Colonial Bengal. The fact that increased demand for textiles was accommodated through an increase in the work-force engaged in this sector rather than through an change in technology has led many to suggest that it is not colonialism that sabotaged the prospects of an industrial revolution in India, but India's own technological incapacity. Dasgupta joins issue with this view and argues that in the absence of colonialism, the stimulus of expanding markets would itself have brought forth technological upgradation, as happened elsewhere including in Britain itself. To be sure this relates to the realm of "might-have -beens"; and of course one must eschew any suggestion of automaticity. But the fact that colonialism foreclosed other possibilities, as emphasized by Paul Baran long ago, can scarcely be denied. Finally we publish a piece by Eugene J. D'Souza which provides interesting information on Nazi propaganda in India, and especially on the role of the Hindu communalists in disseminating such propaganda. The admiration of the Hindu communalists for Nazism is well-known, but research, such as D'Souza's, on the subject, is extremely valuable.