Govt. mulls over placing caste census report before local bodies for a month to ratify numbers
The State government is considering holding wider consultations on the Socio Economic and Educational Survey (popularly called caste census) report by putting up the findings and recommendations before the urban and rural local bodies for about a month and get the numbers ratified.
'During this period, the government is planning to receive objections and feedback on the findings of the survey. Based on the feedback, the survey recommendation could be placed before the legislature for discussion,' government sources said.
Some Ministers, according to the sources, are of the opinion that Karnataka should await the outcome of the caste census announced as part of the general census by the Union government, expected to start in 2026.
'The opinion is that justice cannot be served to all communities with the Karnataka data that is 10 years old. Apprehension has been expressed about the possible gap between the 2015 survey data and the data that would be captured during the general census. If there are huge discrepancies in the data, it could be held against the Congress government during elections,' the sources said.
Pushed to next Cabinet meeting
Meanwhile, the Cabinet decided in greater detail the caste census report, submitted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, during the next Cabinet after providing additional information to the Ministers.
While it is learnt that about a dozen Cabinet Ministers have given their opinion in writing on the survey recommendation, as sought by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, additional volumes of the survey report, including the taluk wise and district wise population data have been provided to the Ministers, who have been asked to come prepared for the next Cabinet meeting.
'The discussion on the issue remained inconclusive,' Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil told pressperspons during his post-Cabinet briefing on Friday night.
He said that during the discussion several opinions were received, but the Chief Minister was expecting to gather more opinion on the subject.
Compiled a decade ago
The caste survey data was compiled in 2015 during the commission headed by H. Kantharaj, and the survey report and recommendation was submitted to the government by the commission headed by K. Jayaprakash Hegde in February 2024.
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