Zanskar was opened to foreigners in the late 1970’s and this is among the first of the travel books which can be expected to follow from the opening of the area. Peissel is well known to those familiar with the travel literature on the Himalayas and his account of a visit to the kingdom of Mustang, remains interesting reading for those concerned with western Nepal and its vicinity.
The present volume, of which Brenda Beck is the editor as well as main contributor, is an interesting collection of seven essays on social anthropology, physical geography, demography and urban development.
While reviewing the first volume in the series edited by M.S.A. Rao, (The Book Review IV, 1, July-August 1979) I had commented on the substantive issues of theory, concepts and methodology’ that Rao had raised in his introduction.
It will remain for a long time one of the much debated issues in Indian Administration: whether Jawaharlal Nehru did the right thing in 1947 in opting (deliberately or otherwise) for a policy of ‘gradualism’ rather than making a clean break with the past.
The adequacy of public services in the democratic context and environment of rapid change is a matter of continuing concern. As the residuary of authority there is a continuing love-hate relationship between the public and governmental services for, the latter is supposed to serve the former.
Between Govind Kelkar’s visit to China in April-May 1978 and mine in May-June 1979 there was a year full of rapid policy changes. She travelled in China when the Chinese leadership was inclined to retain the overall orientation of the Cultural Revolution and integrate it with a programme of four modernizations while denouncing the extremism of the Gang of Four.