FROM THE EDITOR AS THE Social Scientist enters its fourth year, we thank all those responsible for its rise and growth, including readers, contributors, critics, distributors and advertisers, for steadfast cooperation. Last year, reluctantly but inevitably, we were obliged by the inflation of all our costs—paper, printing, postage and overheads—to increase the price. It is heartening tha1< in spite of it, the circle of readership has expanded, as manifested in the growing list of subscribers both from home and abroad. We have done our best to fulfil the promise on thematic numbers. There was a heavy demand for the special issue on 'Inflationary Crisis'. Paper and printing charges have unfortunately set limits on the present issue on the 'National Question'. In November 1975 there will be a special issue on 'Women.' Further on, we are planning the combined number for January-February 1976 to deal with the progressive trends in the literatures of the major Indian languages. It is a great pleasure to note that there is a steady stream of articles, notes, communications and book reviews on various historical and