Cabinet likely to discuss caste census on Oct 18: CM

Bengaluru : Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that the Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as the caste census, will “most likely” be placed before the Cabinet for discussion on October 18, and the government will act further in accordance with the decision taken in the meeting.

Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes under its then Chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde on February 29 submitted the report to CM Siddaramaiah. The report was submitted amid objections by certain sections of society and also within the ruling Congress.

Karnataka’s two dominant communities -- Vokkaliags and Lingayats -- have expressed reservations about the survey, calling it “unscientific”, and have demanded that it be rejected and a fresh survey be conducted.

Siddaramaiah on Monday held discussions with ministers and legislators from backward-class communities. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the chief minister said members of Parliament were also invited for the meeting, but no one came. About 30 legislators attended the meeting, including BJP MLC N Ravi Kumar.

“They have given me a request letter. In the letter, most importantly, they demanded that the government should accept the Socio-Economic and Education Survey report and implement it. I want to clarify that this is not a caste survey of backward classes, it is a survey of 7 crore Kannadigas,” Siddaramaiah said.

He said for the first time in the country such a survey was done in Karnataka, and pointed out that it was carried out by the Congress government, when he was the chief minister earlier. “...I have received the Socio-Economic and Education Survey. I will place it before the Cabinet, and after discussion, a decision will be taken....I have told legislators too that it will be placed before the Cabinet, most likely on October 18....we will discuss in the Cabinet and we will go by what the Cabinet decides,” he added.

The commission headed by Jayaprakash Hegde had said that the report was prepared based on data collected by 1.6 lakh officials, including 1.33 lakh teachers under the leadership of respective Deputy Commissioners of the districts across the state in 2014-15, when H Kantharaju was the Chairman.

The then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) had in 2015 commissioned the survey in the state at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore. The state Backward Classes Commission under its then chairperson Kantharaju was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018 towards the end of Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as chief minister.

The findings of the survey in the form of a report never came out in public thereafter. Noting that the survey was done in 2014 by the “permanent backward class commission” that was headed by Kantharaju, Siddaramaiah said, “the commission took a long time to do the survey and I have been told by Kantharaju that the survey was conducted by visiting house to house.”

Further stating that he had neither seen nor studied the survey, he said that during his earlier tenure as the chief minister, the Kantharaju commission report was not ready, “so I could not accept and implement it then.” The Congress-JD(S) coalition government then came to power with H D Kumaraswamy (of JD(S)) as the chief minister, after the election. The time was subsequently fixed for Kantharaju to submit the report, but Kumaraswamy did not agree to receive the report and the BJP government that next took over, too, did not receive it, Siddaramaiah said. In the meanwhile, K Jayaprakash Hegde became the Chairman of the commission, as Kantharaju’s tenure was over. Hegde sought time to submit the report (freshly), and he was given three months’ time, he further said. “The commission headed by Hegde has submitted the report which I have received, and after that there has been a demand to accept it from many people including backward class communities and others,” he added.

With strong disapproval from the politically-influential two communities --Lingayats and Vokkaliga -- the survey report may turn out to be a political hot potato for the government, as it may set the stage for a confrontation, with Dalits and OBCs among others demanding for it to be made public.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, and a Vokkaliga, was a signatory, along with a couple of other ministers, to a memorandum submitted by the community to the chief minister earlier, requesting that the report along with the data be rejected.

All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, the apex body of Veerashaiva-Lingayats, which has also expressed its disapproval vis-a-vis the survey and demanded conduct of a fresh survey, is headed by veteran Congress leader and MLA Shamanuru Shivashankarappa. Several Lingayat ministers and MLAs too have raised objections. According to some analysts, successive governments have been shying away from releasing it as the findings of the survey are allegedly contrary to the “traditional perception” vis-a-vis numerical strength of various castes in Karnataka, especially Lingayats and Vokkaligas, making it a politically sticky issue.