The annual conference of Adult and Community Education (ACE) began with a traditional Maori welcome powhiri. As the ancestors were invoked to bless the deliberations with open mind and open hearts, it became evident that the gathering in Wellington (New Zealand) held last week was more than an intellectual debate.

Having left the teaching career at IIM Calcutta and ventured into the field of social development through a voluntary organisation some years ago, I was surprised to learn that an article had appeared in The Marxist (June 1984) which argued that ‘action groups and voluntary organisations  in India were a part of western imperialist strategy’. Written by a party activist Prakash Karat, it described such efforts, based on foreign funding, to be undermining the ‘leadership of the party and misguiding the revolution in the country’.