REFLECHONS ON DEVELOPMEN F 77
reasons55 (p 22). But he cautions: "The trend towards slower growth of developed countiies should not be introduced at once .... the (rend towards slower growtli should be aimed at gradually" (p 25)-One simply wonders whom such prescriptions are addressed to.
The piece by Hans Singer on "Poverty, Income Distribution and Levels of Living: Thirty Years of Changing Thought on Development" is a commentary on the changing focus of development strategy, as embodied in the approach of such international organizations as the United Nations Sub-Commission for Economic Development (of which Rao was the chairman), the International Labour Organisation (through its World Employment Programme) and so on. The paper lays bare the inadequacy of the various concepts of poverty and income inequality and the difficulties in the implementation of policies aimed at the reduction of poverty and income inequality. It finally advocates decentralized, local planning for a basic needs-oriented development policy. In the process, the paper also brings out the limitations of the way the problem is posed as well as the impotcncy of piecemeal economic policies.
Relativity of Technology
There are two pieces on the relationship between technology and development. The one by B N Ganguli examines the concept of "relativity of technology" and the fact of coexistence of "superior" and "inferior" techniques for the same branch of production, and their implications for the specific short-period goal of near-full employment in poor countries with planned economies. He then goes on to provide a theoretical possibility of (vide Wicksell), and justification for, the phenomenon of existence of "superior" and "inferior" techniques,and asserts that the usual notion of capital scarcity is a myth, whereas P R Brahmananda, in another essay, sets up a highly stylized "New Classical Growth Model" to prove that long-period unemployment, "under most circumstances" (whatever ir means) is due to a deficiency of total capital stock. But the point that it is the existence of a relative surplus population that makes possible the continuation of a constant set of technical methods actually in use, and the non-application of technical knowledge, is missed. On the other hand, A K Cairncross starts with the importance of the non-measurable factors for economic growth, and productivity, such as natural resources and technology. He takes up the "peculiar" case of Japan and explains its historical growth experience, implicitly using Gcrschenkron's concept of "relative (technological) backwardness."
The essays by S Chakravarty and K N Raj, thoirgh placed