Poverty amongst STs & SCs
FRESH BPL survey is on the way and Planning Commission has already admitted fault in its previous methodology that could be 50% off the mark. A new study (ToI, April 12) has revealed that about half the poor in the country, i. e. about 24% of Indian population belong to SCs & STs.
The study, a pilot survey of 166 villages across 22 states concludes that mere 25% in this unprivileged category are non-poor. (The figure seems to be slightly on the higher side and could have been inflated because of the inclusion of STs from Uttarakhand, Himachal and some North-eastern states).
THE question arises : What has the government been doing for the last six decades? More than a hundred schemes for the welfare of SCs & STs have literally gone to dogs. The governments all along have refused to understand that health, nutrition, employment etc have to be tackled not individually but in an integrated manner. A year ago I had written about Brazil under Lula, that has made significant strides in terms of Human Development Index.
A disturbing observation of the above study is the support to Y.B. Damle' study of 1970s that social identity has an impact on the economic performance of the people. This may only be partially true. All of us know (and the fact appears in some advertisements) that brain develops much faster than rest of the body. It grows upto 95% by the age of five years. Obviously, there has to an over-emphasis on this age but this age is treated casually in all the welfare schemes. If proper nutrition is available till early adolescence, (and the children are provided equal opportunities in the quality of education), there will be no correlation between social identity and economic performance. This is revealed by economically well off SCs & STs whose sons and daughters are competing with general category candidates in all walks of life.
The study, a pilot survey of 166 villages across 22 states concludes that mere 25% in this unprivileged category are non-poor. (The figure seems to be slightly on the higher side and could have been inflated because of the inclusion of STs from Uttarakhand, Himachal and some North-eastern states).
THE question arises : What has the government been doing for the last six decades? More than a hundred schemes for the welfare of SCs & STs have literally gone to dogs. The governments all along have refused to understand that health, nutrition, employment etc have to be tackled not individually but in an integrated manner. A year ago I had written about Brazil under Lula, that has made significant strides in terms of Human Development Index.
A disturbing observation of the above study is the support to Y.B. Damle' study of 1970s that social identity has an impact on the economic performance of the people. This may only be partially true. All of us know (and the fact appears in some advertisements) that brain develops much faster than rest of the body. It grows upto 95% by the age of five years. Obviously, there has to an over-emphasis on this age but this age is treated casually in all the welfare schemes. If proper nutrition is available till early adolescence, (and the children are provided equal opportunities in the quality of education), there will be no correlation between social identity and economic performance. This is revealed by economically well off SCs & STs whose sons and daughters are competing with general category candidates in all walks of life.
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