ABSTRACT
This chapter and the ones that follow take off from the preceding one. They are intended to provide, from the annals of recent Indian economic history, certain empirical foundations for the hypothesis on terms of trade and class relations suggested in Chapter 7. It is, however, necessary to enter a few caveats right at the outset. The quarter of a century since Indian independence can scarcely be considered as having been marked by homogeneous economic developments. Notwithstanding structural changes in many directions, uneven rates of growth between regions and sectors have been the dominant phenomenon, and diverse impulses have been at work. Official policy-even in specific economic mattershas itself not followed a uniform pattern. Shifts in policy have occurred in response to exogenous as well as endogenous developments, or even as the composition of the Union government has slightly altered, or the relationship between it and the individual State governments has undergone mutations. The significance of the socalled ‘learning process’ is not to be discounted either. Even were a particular policy accepted in principle by the authorities, the modus operandi of translating the policy into practice might not be perfect at any moment. Often, the ramifications of a policy too are appreciated only with a time-lag; a series of trials and errors could mark the operational phase. A distinction thus needs to be drawn between consciousness of class interests and awareness of the most efficient mechanism for furthering those interests.
