The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday ordered a fresh ‘caste census’ (socio-economic and educational survey) by the state’s Backward Classes Commission, within the next 90 days.
While the move will have far-reaching political and social implications, the decision to conduct a fresh survey (after scrapping the old one) was taken following the advice by the Congress high command, which cautioned the CM and the DCM that the old report was outdated and any decision based on the report could be legally challenged. The survey is meant to guide future decisions on reservations and targeted welfare programmes.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, during a press meet in Bengaluru following the Cabinet meeting defended the decision citing Section 11(1) of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1995, which mandates a fresh survey every ten years to assess and update the list of socially and educationally backward communities. “Since the last survey was conducted in 2015, and the data is now ten years old, the existing report is no longer legally valid. Population and social indicators change significantly in a decade. Therefore, it is necessary to reassess the socio-educational conditions before implementing any recommendations,” clarified Siddaramaiah.
Amid criticism from the opposition BJP and JDS over scrapping the old report, Siddaramaiah alleged that the opposition parties were also guilty of not implementing the caste census.
The chief minister elaborated on the process adopted by the previous commission and stated that the 2015 Kantharaju Commission survey had been carried out between April 11 and May 30, 2015, involving 1.6 lakh staff and 1.33 lakh teachers and had covered around 5.98 crore individuals out of an estimated 6.35 crore population (based on 2011 Census projections). Data was collected based on 54 socio-educational indicators through door-to-door visits.
“The survey was completed by 2018, but the report was not accepted during Kumaraswamy’s tenure as the CM. Later the BJP government appointed Jayaprakash Hegde as the new chairman of the Commission, who submitted the recommendations based on the existing data to our government on February 29, 2024. We tabled the report in the Cabinet and today, we have ordered a fresh survey owing to the old report becoming redundant.” said Siddaramaiah, adding that the government was only complying with the legal requirement and would consult the current chairman of the Commission Madhusudhan Naik.
In response to a question on how the state’s survey compares with the proposed caste census by the Centre, Siddaramaiah said, “The Centre has not stated that it would conduct a socio and educational survey. They have not responded to our query on the same. So, we will go ahead with a fresh survey independently in the interest of social justice.”
The BJP has slammed the Siddaramaiah government for scrapping the old report alleging that it was a “criminal waste” of taxpayers’ money (Rs 165 crore) and advised that the state government should not hurry through the survey and instead cooperation to the Centre which has planned to carry out the caste census along with the ongoing General Census.
Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar dared the BJP to back the old report instead of opposing a resurvey.
When asked about earlier objections raised by dominant communities like Vokkaligas and Lingayats to the previous survey, the CM said, “The new process will be transparent and legally compliant. We can complete the resurvey in 90 days. Telangana completed a similar survey in 70 days.”
Meanwhile, experts have warned against burdening the school teachers with enumeration work in the middle of the academic year stating it would impact the students of government schools.
