If in the First Conference, which was held in New Delhi in January 1985, the main theme of the papers was focussed on social development in the first half of the twentieth century, while that of the Second Conference held in Leiden in September 1985 shifted to the nineteenth century, particularly on various aspects such as bureaucratic tradition, population changes, and cottage industries, the central theme of the Third Conference concentrated on historical dynamics in pre- and early colonial India and Indonesia. State formation, socio-political aspects of Islam, and early-colonial policies were the major topics discussed at the Conference.