Latest news with #Socio-EconomicandEducationSurvey
The Hindu
21-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Won't allow teachers to be involved in fresh caste survey, says Madhu Bangarappa
Shivamogga Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa has said that teachers will not be involved in the socio-economic and educational re-survey to be conducted in the coming days. Speaking to presspersons here on Saturday, the Minister said he had conveyed to the government that he could not allow teachers to be involved in the process to collect data. 'If we involve them in the process, teaching will suffer in schools for several weeks. I have conveyed this to the government, which will make proper arrangements for the exercise,' he said. The State Cabinet recently gave the go-ahead for a fresh Socio-Economic and Education Survey, popular as caste census. It decided to conduct such a exercise after junking a 10-year-old survey report.
The Print
17-06-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Caste census without economic indicators is of little value, says Congress leader Sachin Pilot
Though the Socio-Economic and Education Survey was carried out in the previous term of Siddaramaiah as the CM, its findings were never officially released. However, earlier this year, certain portions of the report were leaked, triggering protests by Vokkaligas and Lingayats. The party's articulation of this position comes at a time when its Karnataka unit is under pressure from the politically dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities, who are upset over being 'undercounted' in a survey commissioned by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in 2015. New Delhi: The Congress Tuesday said a caste census that merely records caste identities would hold little value, stressing that the exercise should aim to assess people's living standards and the impact of government welfare schemes on their lives. A cornered Congress has attempted to wriggle out of the situation by ordering a re-enumeration of castes in Karnataka within the next three months. And, that is why its latest underlining that a caste census must go beyond enumeration of caste identities is significant. 'The objective of the exercise is not just to get the name and the caste of a person, that I don't think has that much value. The real value is that you understand in what condition they are living, how successful the schemes have been so far, are the targeted budgets and policy programmes reaching the ones that we are intending for,' Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot said at a press conference at the party's new headquarters in Delhi's Kotla Marg. The former Rajasthan deputy chief minister said Rahul Gandhi's pitch for a nation-wide caste census was always about carrying out an 'x-ray' of the country, rather than simply counting castes. 'When we said, we wanted a caste census, the objective was to know exactly in what conditions people of India are living, those who are being deprived, who are not in the mainstream, how much have they got education, how much access they have to government schemes and policy programs, in what economic condition are they living, what is an expanding, household incomes, all that is required for us to do better policy combination,' he said.. The idea, he added, is not just to collect data of an individual's caste or a household's caste. 'The objective is to know exactly in what condition these families are living and how we can better curate our policies to substantially help the livelihood of those people. Unless we have tangible data, no state government and no central government can actually do targeted interventions and that is what we wanted to do.' On 30 April, the Centre had announced that caste enumeration would be included in the next population census. And on Monday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification saying that the next census will be held in 2027. While the Congress has questioned the absence of the term census in the notification, the Centre has dismissed the contention, pointing out that the MHA has already announced in multiple press statements that caste will be counted as part of the next exercise. Pilot highlighted the issue even on Tuesday, adding that the allocation of Rs 570 crore for conducting census in the annual budget also raises questions on the Centre's intentions. 'Given the BJP government's track record of backtracking, use of distraction tactics in times of its failures and its affinity to hypocrisy, we won't be surprised if it quietly shelves the caste census once again. Also, while the census would cost about Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 crore, the government had allocated a meagre Rs 570 crore for the purpose, which clearly shows its intentions,' he alleged. (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: Manish Tewari on Congress's Narender Surrender jibe—'nature of politics, back-channel talks nothing new'
India Today
17-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Siddaramaiah's son hits out at Congress for blocking Karnataka caste survey
Congress MLC and son of Karnataka Chief Minister, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, criticised his own party for failing to implement the findings of the caste survey in the state. He blamed resistance from influential individuals within certain communities for blocking the release and implementation of the report, accusing them of using minor objections as justification.'If we had released and implemented the caste survey, it would have strengthened the backward class communities. These communities have been marginalised for a long time, and the survey could have paved the way for increased reservation for them,' Yathindra alleged that despite the potential of the survey to bring structural benefits to historically disadvantaged groups, some influential people from particular communities had opposed it. 'They have cited trivial reasons, like it is a 10-year-old survey, that the entire population wasn't covered and did not allow to implement it,' he added. His remarks come following the Karnataka Cabinet's unanimous decision to carry out a fresh Socio-Economic and Education Survey, popularly referred to as the 'Karnataka caste census', ten years after the original survey was undertaken in 2015. On June 12, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who had initiated the original survey during his previous tenure, said the decision followed recommendations from the state's Backward Classes Commission and legal provisions under the Backward Classes Act, 1995, which mandates a fresh survey every decade. advertisementPolitical shifts, including the refusal of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and later the BJP government to accept the 2015 report, delayed its implementation. With the final recommendations submitted in February this year, the Cabinet has now resolved to authorise a new survey to be completed within 90 days. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the updated survey would reflect changing demographics and socio-economic conditions, with provisions for online participation by Kannadigas outside the state. IN THIS STORY#Karnataka#Bengaluru
The Hindu
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
After nudge by high command, Cabinet gives nod for fresh survey of castes
Nudged by the Congress high command, which had been petitioned by the politically-dominant Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities against accepting the Socio-Economic and Education Survey (caste census) report, the Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday gave its nod for a fresh survey. The Congress high command, on Tuesday, suggested to the Karnataka government to hold re-enumeration of caste data within a stipulated time to address concerns of some communities who complained of being 'left out.' With the Cabinet decision, the caste census of 2015 — which had been conducted for the first time during the colonial times in 1931 — is no longer valid. Reason for re-survey Saying that the lapse of 10 years since the conduct of the survey, by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes headed by H. Kantharaj in 2015, as the reason for re-survey, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in the post-Cabinet briefing, told presspersons: 'As per the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1995, a fresh survey is mandated every 10 years. A lot of changes would have taken place in this last 10 years in the social and educational realm.' He also said that the Cabinet had, in principle, agreed to the survey report submitted by Mr. Hegde. When Mr. Siddaramaiah's response was sought on if the State government was under pressure from the high command, the Chief Minister said: 'The process was on. The high command has also advised for a new survey. We are not doing it just because they asked us to do a new survey. We have not succumbed to the pressure of the high command.' Asked why the State Cabinet had accepted the report in April, 2025, when it was nearly 10 years (survey conducted between April 11-2015 and 30 May, 2015), the Chief Minister said: 'It was only after discussions started that we realised that by law and Constitutional provisions it has to be done after a lapse of 10 years. As per Section 11 of the Act, any report after 10 years is not tenable. The provisions in the Act is clear that a new survey has to be conducted every 10 years after which a new list of backward classes could be drawn by either deleting existing castes or adding new castes.' It was also pointed out to the Chief Minister that when Mr. Hegde submitted his report, the survey had not completed 10 years. Within 90 days Stating that the fresh survey work would be completed 'within 90 days of notifying', he said that members to the backward classes commission will be appointed in the 'next two to three days'. Currently, barring chairman Madhusudan R. Naik, who was appointed in February 2025, posts of nominated members are vacant. Government appoints five members to the commission besides the chairman. It may be mentioned here that when the first Siddaramaiah-led government conducted the first survey in 2015 at a cost of ₹165 crore, Karnataka was the first State in the country to undertake the survey after the national exercise conducted by the British in 1931. Bihar and Telangana have done the survey after Karnataka completed the survey.
India Today
12-06-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Karnataka Cabinet orders caste re-survey within 90 days citing 10-year gap
The Karnataka Cabinet has unanimously decided to conduct a fresh Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, often referred to as the 'Karnataka caste census', citing the expiry of the ten-year period since the last such exercise. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah confirmed the decision following a Cabinet meeting that deliberated exclusively on the recommendations of the state's Backward Classes Commission, which had submitted its final report earlier this explained that the original survey was launched during his previous tenure as Chief Minister in 2015 and was carried out between April 11 and May 30 of that year. 'On 57 grounds we visited the houses and conducted the survey and submitted the survey,' he said, noting that around 1.6 lakh personnel were involved. The survey covered 5.98 crore people, a figure close to the projected population of 6.3 crore for 2015, up from 6.11 crore in the 2011 added that the recommendations were finalised by 2018, but due to a change in government and subsequent political decisions, the report was not accepted. 'In 2018, our party lost and I tendered the resignation. There was a coalition government. JDS chief Kumaraswamy was the new Chief Minister. The report was completed by then. C Puttarangashetty was then commissioner. Kumarswamy insisted not to take the report,' Siddaramaiah After the tenure of H Kantharaj, who chaired the earlier commission in 2015, Jayaprakash Hegde was appointed to lead the body, with BJP-appointed members forming the rest of the panel. The final recommendations, based on the Kantharaj report, were submitted on February 29, 2024. However, with the Model Code of Conduct in force due to the Lok Sabha elections, the Cabinet could not take it up until after the said that senior Congress leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala, held consultations with him and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on the matter. 'They suggested the report was prepared and ready in 2015. It's been 10 years already. According to the Backward Classes Act 1995, it's very clear that a new survey is to be conducted after 10 years,' he Section 11 of Clause 1 of the Act, Siddaramaiah said the Cabinet decided that the time had legally come to undertake a new exercise. 'We did not bow down to the high command. We are taking this decision according to the law,' he said. He also reiterated that Kumaraswamy had previously refused to receive the report and had even threatened Puttarangashetty. The BJP government that followed also did not accept the that the report has formally been received and reviewed, the Cabinet has decided to authorise the commission to conduct a new survey within 90 Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said, 'The Chief Minister has already explained the decision taken in the Cabinet. It's clear—this is about the backward classes section. Once in 10 years, such things need to be revisited. The original survey was conducted from April 11, 2015, to May 30, 2015, and now it's already 10 years old.'He added that the survey would reflect current socio-economic realities, as population patterns, education levels, and public demands had changed. 'We want to do justice to everyone,' he said. Shivakumar also noted that the Backward Classes Commission would be given three months to complete the task and that the process would be made accessible online, allowing participation from Kannadigas residing in other states.'I don't want to comment on anything specific—this is a 10-year-old issue, and it needs to be addressed now,' Shivakumar said. IN THIS STORY#Karnataka
