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 signific