Articles by Manabendu Chattopadhyay

of nuclear power, and the British agreeing to international control on chlorofluoro- carbons (CFCs) causing the 'hole' in the ozone layer only when the ICI had developed substitutes. The latest international convention on export of toxic wastes has still to be ratified, being studied for implications by the European and other industrial countries' governments, and is no guarantee of a check on transport across the seas and dumping in the third world. The growing environmental consciousness in the industrial world is not only constantly digressed into possibilities of technological alternatives solving this or that problem in isolation, rejecting a holistic approach, but also the emphasis is diluted by diverting attention into presenting the problem as an all-world phenomenon. The author also falls into this trap in calling for a wholesale reversal of the modern technological trends (p 233). Such a reversal appears to be urgent for the industrial world, but any success may be possible only when popular consciousness is really roused and becomes effective against the constantly promoted all round wasteful consumption. However, the production forces of modern technology cannot be denigrated in the countries of wide disparities and with the vast majority being poor. There it needs to be appropriately used for providing the basic needs and comforts for the whole community.

This paper is the fifth of a series reporting the results of a resurvey of villages and households carried out m 1985-86 in three districts of West Bengal-Bardhaman, Birbhum and Purulia-that had been covered in the 27th and 28th rounds of the NSS during 1972-74. The findings reported in the earlier papers covered several aspects of the people's level of living-private consumption, social consumption, housing conditions and stocks of consumer durables. The present paper presents a summary of the people's responses to questions on their own perceptions of changes in different dimensions of their level of living.

Housing Conditions Nikhilesh Bhattacharya Manabendu Chattopadhyay Ashok Rudra This, the third of a series of papers reporting on the results of a resurvey of villages and households in Bardhaman, Birbhum and Purulia districts, reports on changes in housing conditions in rural West Bengal between 1972-73 and 1985-86. The first two papers in the series described changes in private and social consumption.

A resurvey in 1985-86 of villages and households in three districts of West Bengal which were covered by the National Sample Survey in its 27th and 28th rounds reveals that there was little change in consumption standards for the food component of household consumption and only a mild improvement in the non-food part. Absolute levels of household consumption remained nearly as dismal in 1985-86 as in 1972-73.

Cultivation: A Case Study Manabendu Chattopadhyay This paper examines the relationship between size of holding, the intensities with which different types of input are applied, and output obtained under different types of tenancy.