Naresh Kumar Vaid, Director , Vaids ICS

UPA government at the Centre, through its slogan of aam aadmi recaptured the power again last year but its report card belies its claims, particularly w.r.t. its sincerity towards weaker sections of the society. At the beginning of seventh five year plan it was decided that budgetary allocation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) & Scheduled Tribes (STs) would be in proportion to their respective population strength, i.e. with present statistics about 16% for SCs and about 8% for STs. However, the report card of UPA government since UPA I betrays this assertion. In 2004-05 total plan expenditure (excluding for states & UTs) was Rs 85,061 Cr of which Rs 3,611 Cr (4.3%) was earmarked for SCs and Rs. 2,382 (2.8%) for STs. In 2007-08, it was the higheast - 8.1% for SCs and 4.9% for STs. In 2009-10 it declined to 6.5% for SCs and 4.1% for STs. The budget is mainly spent through Special Component Plan for SCs and through Tribal Sub Plan for STs. The slogan of women empowerment too has proved

We have heard about malnutrition and undernutrition. We also know about arsenic poisoning. Now a new survey has cautioned about lead poisening. Quality Council of India (QCI), in its study of six major metros including Banguluru and Hyderabad, of children below 12 yrs has come to the conclusion that 51.3% of these children have lead concentration in their blood much more than desired (the permissible limit being 10 micrograms/deciliter). The main culprit is the enamel paints used in homes and vehicles. According to the study, yellow paints have lead concenreation upto 85,000 ppm (parts per million) while white paints fair better as these have upto 1,330 ppm. (The limit for lead in paints in US is 90 ppm.) However, Asian Paints, ICI India and Mysore Lead have started producing somewhat lead-free paints, though these are about 25% costlier than others. The study has shown that higher levels of lead concentration result in decline in IQ by four to six points. The above news appeared in Th