72 SOCIAL SCIENTIST The price of rice, which had declined by 2.1 per cent in 1970-71 showed a substantial increase of 10.1 per cent in 1971-72. Despite the tall claims regarding ^green revolution' in wheat, the price of wheat increased by 3.8 per cent during the year under review compared to a fall of 2.9 per cent in the previous year. Another essential commodity, sugar, presented an agonising spectacle of 27.5 per cent rise in prices in one year, Similarly, prices of cotton manufactures, jute manufactures, chemical products, iron and steel manufactures and paper products shot up to new heights during 1971-72. The "disconcerting" rise in prices, which has been larger than anticipated, did not occur by accident. Surely, there must have been important causative factors related to the policies and programmes initiated and implemented by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India. At least in part, these factors have direct relevance to the operations of the Reserve Bank in the field of monetary policy and credit operations. A very large part of the increase in domestic savings during 1971-72, for instance, was due to a substantial stepping up of money supply, both in respect of currency with the public and deposits with the scheduled commercial banks. The position at the end of June 1972 was, therefore, one in which the public commanded, both in terms of currency and in the form of bank deposits, large stock of potential demand, while output trends in the commodity sectors were anything but comfortable. Despite the glaring fact that output trends in the commodity sectors are 'anything but comfortable', resulting in serious imbalances between demand and supply and consequent inflationary rise in prices, the 'experts' in the Reserve Bank of India have decided to characterise the dominant feature of the Indian economy as one of 'resilience' ! It is difficult for innocent souls who believe in the 'independence' of the Reserve Bank of India to see the invisible hands of the powers that be. K MATHEW KURIAN