ARUN GUPTA and Jon R Rohde's article 'Economic Value of Breast-Feeding in India', 'EPW, June 26 is a commendable attempt to lift the discussion about breast-feeding into the macro-economic sphere by attempting to quantify some of the critical parameters. Undoubtedly this is a good way to create awareness about the importance of breast-feeding for the welfare of children and hence for the economy in general among social scientists and policy planners accustomed to thinking along macro-economic lines. As a dramatic device to focus attention on this issue, it evokes ungrudging respect from those of us in the 'soft' disciplines who often seem to have trouble in being heard. However, the authors appear to be working from a limited perspective and have failed to attend to certain crucial social dimensions of the problem. As a result, they tend to draw simplistic conclusions, trivialise some issues and take a fragmented, uni-dimensional view which may do little to promote the very cause they seek to serve.