Karnataka Cabinet on Friday cleared the appointment of findings of the long pending Socio Economic and Educational Survey, popularly called caste census, bringing it a major political and social development. The Cabinet session for April 17 will debate the detailed findings which come before them.
Of note, at least six ministers: SS Mallikarjun and Laxmi Hebbalkar (Lingayats), MC Sudhakar and K Venkatesh (Vokkaligas), RB Timmapur (scheduled caste), and Madhu Bangarappa (Idiga) did not show up at Friday’s meeting. Although the ministers were not present, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil assured that there was no dissent and that the decision was taken unanimously by the Cabinet ignoring caste or community considerations.
Claiming broad coverage of the survey, Patil, however, stated that it successfully covered 94.17 per cent of Karnataka estimated 63.5 million population. “Coverage is also difficult in the traditional censuses.” He noted that that’s a highly successful effort missing just 3.7 million people.
Backward Classes Welfare Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi informed that the survey was taken over a decade ago as it was launched in 2015 based on directions from then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. An estimated ₹162 crore had been spent on more than 160,000 personnel deployed to survey over 10 million households. In June 2023, the data was approved.
But the official findings are still just under wraps, and past leaks in 2018 implied that the powerful Lingayats and Vokkaligas (who together constitute the biggest voting population of about 1.1 crore) might have been underrepresented (reportedly just 11 per cent and 14 per cent of the state population). On the contrary, data indicated that SCs, STs, OBCs, Kurubas, and Muslims combined had a share of 47.5% of the total population of the state.
The implications of these findings could have a major influence on the development of political discourses and allocations of resources in light of the growing need for higher-quality measures of social justice and more equitable representation.
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