6 months ago
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Karnataka has conscionable completed the Social and Educational Survey of its colonisation past week, a decennary aft the 1 conducted successful 2015 whose study ne'er saw the airy of the day. The 2nd survey came amid absorption from the ascendant castes, backed by the Opposition BJP.
The workout withstood attempts by its opponents to make controversy, including a ineligible challenge. It ended with astir 90% of the State’s colonisation covered successful conscionable implicit a month. About 6.13 crore out of the projected 6.85 crore population successful the State were covered by October 31, 2025, erstwhile the door-to-door survey ended. The online model is unfastened till November 10.
Many hurdles
Several challenges were raised, from questioning the competence of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes successful holding the survey to disputing its ineligible basis, galore doubted the volition and necessity of specified an workout that outgo the exchequer astir ₹450 crore. On the eve of the launch, the Commission, nether unit from the BJP and Hindutva groups, masked 33 Christian sub-castes successful the database with Hindu caste prefixes.
Throughout the survey, determination were besides reports of enumerators, who were teachers oregon authorities employees, being abused by a conception of the people, earlier shutting the doorway connected them.
Though ascendant castes person shown an antipathy to the survey, determination are striking differences successful the mode this was expressed by antithetic groups wrong this category. The politically-dominant and land-owning Vokkaligas in Old Mysore region, and Veerashaiva-Lingayats in northbound Karnataka, who opposed the past survey, remained highly captious of the contiguous 1 too. But they took portion successful it. Both communities are not lone successful the backward classes database and beneficiaries of reservation, but establishing their numbers remains important for them to wield governmental clout. They asked their assemblage members, done their caste organisations, to enumerate themselves successful a definite way, truthful that their numbers tin beryllium projected arsenic significant.
However, a conception of the Brahmin community, who bash not number themselves arsenic beneficiaries of authorities schemes oregon reservation, abstained. In Karnataka, the EWS reservation, which could assistance economically weaker households successful nationalist employment and education, has not yet been implemented.
Non-participants
Taking a cue from the Karnataka High Court’s bid that made information successful the survey voluntary, galore households refused to participate. Political leaders, including Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, aired their sentiment against the survey. In fact, Dharwad, represented by Mr. Joshi, lagged successful the survey advancement arsenic the archetypal deadline reached. Prominent radical like Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and his woman and Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty not taking part besides deed headlines.
In all, according to the Commission, astir 4.22 lakh households (not each from the aforesaid community) refused to enactment successful the survey. About 34.49 lakh houses remained vacant oregon locked. The Commission volition present look into secondary information of those households that person refused to instrumentality portion earlier preparing its report.
Abstention by a conception of radical has faced disapproval from respective quarters. The households that refused to enactment oregon the assemblage leaders who opposed the survey person been accused of not conscionable being insensitive to societal justness successful a larger sense, but adjacent being elitist with small interest astir the mediocre wrong their ain community.
The coming months volition perchance witnesser heightened anxiousness among the astir backward communities, galore of which person not had practice either successful governmental realm oregon bureaucracy. These communities are anticipating the submission of the study and its speedy implementation.
The Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats do not privation the study going public, portion the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who signifier astir 25% of the population, are indifferent due to the fact that it is of small effect to them. Kuruba, a ample caste radical wrong the OBCs, is looking to unafraid a Scheduled Tribe tag. With varied caste interests astatine play, however the study volition beryllium received and interpreted remains to beryllium seen.
