2 SOCIAL SCIENTIST becomes a dirty word in several other realms. The hegemony of globalized finance is associated with an assault on reason, which, even if unwittingly, creates the intellectual climate for the emergence of fundamentalism, communal-fascism, and other such tendencies. Terms like "secularism" and "rationalism" come under attack even from "sophisticated" intellectual quarters which, though themselves opposed to these tendencies, facilitate the thriving of forces such as Hindutva. This aspect is highlighted in the Haksar memorial lecture of the eminent historian Satish Chandra which we carry in the current number. Sukumari Bhattacharji in her article on Valmiki Ramayana uses the text to establish the changes occurring in society in the period of roughly four hundred years bifurcated by the beginning of the Christian era. Rama's killing of Shambuka and rejection of Sita reflect a social order marked by the subservience of women and the lower castes. Both these developments in turn are associated with the accumulation of private property which gives rise to an emphasis on lineage and to a &|ar of miscegenation. The king now acquires a new role, as a guardian of the caste-system who ruthlessly puts down any Shudra challenge to Brahmanical domination, and as a protector of the order from the self-assertion of women. The concept of Ramarajya invoked in the modern context, it follows, has rather unsavoury connotations. Finally we publish a note by Ram Singh on intellectual property rights, which examines a range of issues that do not normally figure in discussions on the subject. It argues for instance that the TRIPS regime has very weak philosophical foundations.