CONTENTS

N U M B E R Vol VIII Nos 4, 5 and 6 February 1973 THE 'Approach to the Fifth Plan' does not advance the process of planning in the country even one millimetre for ward. It is an embarrassing mixture of pedantry and naivety. The greater pity lies in the pedantry. For if the document had been somewhat less pretentious in its tenor, it could have been read as just another entertainment and passed over. And it richly deserves to be passed over. Irrespective of its pretentions, the contents of the document are in essence the fare of the Fourth Plan served after a minor warming up. The national programme for minimum needs, the verbal gymnastics on employment creation, the expiation on the so- called 'Variants' which supposedly ba lance this objective with that one, are all so much fluff. And, given the current rate of inflation, nobody need be impressed by the size of the proposed outlay spilling beyond Rs 50,000 crores either.