600fc REVIEWS 6l old structures. This can, at best, bring about marginal reforms but can in no way change the conditions of the 'wretched of the earth9. Kothri's approach to twentieth century political development is extremely ahistorical. He isolates the Indian system as an eternal moment in the midst of a constantly changing national and international perspective. In this way he is able to successfully ignore one of the greatest lessons of history, the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, which conclusively proved the increasing role of masses in political progress. This gives a wider base to the concept of a political elite than visualised by any bourgeois pseudo-scientist. World events since 1917 have also proved the validity of the Marxist approach to social sciences, based on the theory and practice of the class struggle. No bourgeois model has yet proved to be superior in its explanation of political events. Therefore we would be justified in claiming that whilst Kothari has given an empirical analysis of the irrationality of twentyfive years of uninterrupted bourgeois-landlord rule in India, he has not been able to analyse the direction from which revolutionary pressure will come in India. It will not, as he suggests, come from the role of the leadership and the institutional structure, but from the dumb millions, who have nothing to lose but their chains. Although the author recognises that political protest in India today, particularly since 1969, is a danger to the system, he can only suggest inspired pacification techniques, since he is not willing to go into the underlying causes. His approach to the problem is diversionary instead of being fundamental. NINA GHOPRA PADMA DESAI, IMPORT SUBSTITUTION IN THE INDIAN ECONOMY, 1951-'63, Hindustan Publishing Corporation Delhi. pp 137 Rs 24 EVER since the foreign exchange crisis of 1956-)5 7, import substitution has been recognised as an imortant aspect of the industrialisation process by the Indian policy-makers. Padma Desai's present study provides a detailed statistical account of the import substitution programme as practised during 1951-'63. The study opens with a discussion on the growth and structure of Indian industry. The growth of the industrial sector has apparently been impressive with its structure shifting towards heavy and basic industries, particularly metal, machinery and chemical. The relative share of the consumer goods sector, in terms of gross value added, gross output at factor cost and gross output at market prices, declined