Naresh Kumar Vaid, Director , Vaids ICS

देखो ! बुत तराशी का ये हमें सिला मिला जिसको हमने बुत समझा वो काफिर खुदा निकला

Hobbit is the popular name of Homo floresiensis , the first fossils of which were discovered in Flore, Indonesia in 2003 and first described in 2004. Short stature (about 3ft), microcephaly , brain of the size of an orange (resembling apes), foot to thigh bone ratio of 70% (compared to 50% in modern man) show quite resemblance with Lucy ( Australopithecus afarensis ). Previously it was postulated that it must have descended from Lucy discovered in 1974 that is dated 3.2 million years. However, a study published in the Journal of Human Evolution authored by Debbie Argue et al . claim Homo habilis , that appeared around 2.3 million years ago to be its ancestor. The stone tools discovered from the site date over 1.1 million years old while Hobbits lived upto 17,000 thousand years ago. The authors also claim that Hobbits might have been swayed away to the Flores from Africa, almost half the world away, by some tsunami or a similar event. The biological features of Hobbits and their simi...

The Supreme Court, in its judgement on March 8, has ordered that to protect tribals from exploitation, Jarwas should be left on their own. The Jarwa reserve area has already been extended to 1,028 sq. kms . for them to have proper facilities for hunting and food-gathering. Under the central policy, waters upto five kms from the High Tide Line have been declared as tribal reserves. Incidentally, the next day March 9, Dr. B. D. Sharma , an authority on tribal affairs, in an interview to ToI said, 'for tribals ,development means exploitation". This policy of 'isolation' of tribals was practised by the then British Indian government. Verrier Elvin after independence, as an advisor to Assam government also advised 'isolation' of tribals in extreme situation. However, Elvin's this approach was severely criticised by most of the experts as 'ethnographic park theory. That is why Pt. Nehru, in his 'tribal panchsheel ' advocated integration of t...

The whole country, particularly the media is ga ga with the passage of Women's Reservation bill in Rajya Sabha. But it has left several questions unanswered. 1. The bill, when turns into act, is bound to promote women in politics. But which women? Realising the escalating cost of election expenses, which woman will dare to fight elections at the cost of her husband and family? The answer is very clear - only those women born and brought up in political families. If Lalu Yadav's or for that matter any politician's seat is declared gender-specific, the obvious choice of candidature for that particular time period will be his closest woman kin. Ordinary women will keep fighting at panchayat elections upto district level unless a woman sarpanch is so corrupt that she enmasses enough wealth to fight the Lok Sabha or even assembly elections. Will such women be more competent than corrupt men politicians? 2.The Law will be unconstitutional as it will arbiterarily restrict men'...

Pranab Da has dedicated his budget presented in Lok Sabha to Aam Aadmi. Who and where is that aam aadmi? In the Budget there is no initiative to check price rise while the allocation for health, education, employment, women etc fall much short of the targets decided for them. The corporate sector is relieved not because of the doles offered but it was expecting harsh measures. Income tax concessions can make none happy releeing under inflation in the price of food items. Increase in the allocation of budget for forces is good enough just to adjust for inflation. The deficit is being balanced through rise in petroleum prises, disinvestment of public sector and bringing more services under service tax. So, for whom is this budget? Who is that aam aadmi? Do people below poverty line form this category? Is creamy layer of the society (with income more than 4.5 lacs) is a part? Are class III and IV employes in the government/private sector included in it? As per the government, BPL includes...

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...