Karnataka now kicks off SC sub-caste survey, leaders call for ‘clear identification' to ensure benefits

Indian Express

05-05-2025

AMIDST THE discussion on its caste survey findings, the Karnataka government has begun categorising Scheduled Castes in the state.
The survey, which started on Monday and will go on till May 17, will identify the various sub-castes within the 101 SC groups in the state. It will facilitate the promise of the Siddaramaiah -led Congress government to provide internal reservations for socially weaker SC sub-castes within the state's 15% SC quota umbrella.
The survey was ordered upon the recommendations of the internal reservations interim report submitted to the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government by the Justice Nagamohan Das commission on March 27.
The commission had flagged a key point from an earlier study: Most respondents identified with broad SC categories on the basis of their caste certificates and did not specify their sub-castes.
'In the surveys earlier, nearly 43% of respondents included themselves in these three categories of Adi Andhra, Adi Karnataka and Adi Dravida… The lack of clear identification to a sub-caste situation hinders scientific classification,' said R Halesh, a Dalit leader and editor of the Hosa Vichara newspaper.
Congress leaders too have been calling for clear identification of the different sub-castes.
On Sunday, Congress MLC D Thimmaiah, a close associate of CM Siddaramaiah, urged leaders of the Madiga sub-caste who are considered to be the largest SC group and the most-backward in the community to identify themselves during the survey to 'benefit from considerations for internal SC quotas'.
The survey, its political implications
The SC community in Karnataka is broadly classified under four categories: SC (left) (the most backward groups such as the Madigas who were considered untouchables in the caste system): SC (right) (such as the Holeyas who are less backward and accepted by other castes); SC (touchable) communities such as Banjaras and Bhovis who are tribes in other states; and dozens of small SC communities who are classified as others.
There have been calls for internal reservation within the SCs for decades now, with the reservation benefits said to be cornered by upwardly mobile SC groups such as the Holeyas, Banjaras and Bhovis.
This meant that the sub-categorisation has been a politically charged issue. The previous BJP term, between 2019 and 2023, enhanced SC quotas in the state from 15% to 17% in 2022. The Basavaraj Bommai -led government had also announced internal reservation for SC communities in March 2023 and provided 6% — of the overall 17% SC quota — to the SC (left) group, 5.5% to the SC (right), 4.5% to the SC (touchables) and 1% to other SC groups.
The BJP government had arrived at these numbers on the basis of the 2011 Caste Census numbers. It also took into consideration some aspects of the 2012 Justice A J Sadashiva commission report on internal quotas even as it rejected the report as a whole.
Among the essential findings of the Justice A J Sadashiva commission, which was made known through a press release in 2012, is that the Madiga community or the Dalit left group were more socially backward than the right Dalits such the Holeyas.
The commission had indicated in the report it presented in 2012 — based roughly on the 2011 Census data — that Holeyas and Madigas are considered to make up nearly one-third each of the SC population in Karnataka, with the numbers of the Madigas being about 2% higher than that of Holeyas.
The commission recommended the following numbers for SC internal quota: 6% for SC (left), 5% SC (right), 3% for the SC (touchable) and 1% for others.
The BJP's SC sub-categorisation was seen as a balancing act to appease all SC groups, while not committing to the Justice Sadashiva commission's recommendations The BJP's scheme backfired, with the Bhovis and Banjaras revolting against the BJP in the 2023 polls over the reduced quota to them.
On the ground, the BJP's internal quota never materialised. The mandate for changing internal quotas vested with the Union government at the time. But In August 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that states can decide on the sub-quotas for SCs based on empirical data.
The top court's judgement paved the way for the constitution of the Justice Nagamohan Das commission in Karnataka in November 2024. Other states such as Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are carrying out the exercise.
In November 2024, the Karnataka Cabinet decided not to issue any fresh notification for government jobs until the internal reservation for SCs were finalised.
'In the wake of three decades of continuous demands and pressures for internal reservation in the state, the state Cabinet has agreed in principle to internal reservation in SCs. There are 101 sub castes within the SCs and the government has decided to take all of them into confidence and scientifically implement internal reservation,' Siddaramaiah said while announcing the Cabinet decision.
The Congress has traditionally drawn its support from the SC (right) group to which many of its prominent leaders — Mallikarjun Kharge, G Parameshwara, H C Mahadevappa — all belong.
While the SC (left) group has supported the Congress in the past, many of these communities have moved towards the BJP in recent times on account of the general neglect by the Congress in terms of political representation. At the moment, the most prominent SC (left) Congress leader in Karnataka is seven-time MP and Union minister K H Muniyappa.
Apart from the numbers of the SC sub-castes, the current survey intends to look at socio-economic aspects such as education levels, occupation, living circumstances, house and land ownership, and political representation.
The survey will deploy 59,000 officials in around 6,000 gram panchayats, 300 town and municipal corporations. 'Within two months, the survey will be completed and a report submitted to the government,' Karnataka Law minister has said.