Bengaluru: Outgoing chairman of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC) Jayaprakash Hegde on Thursday submitted the final report on the socio-economic and education survey (2015-18) to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. It is said that the socio-economic and education survey report would come before the next cabinet meeting.
The submission of the socio-economic and education survey report was deferred a couple of times and it was to be submitted to the State Government in November previous year and later it was said that the report would be submitted in December.
Before submission of the Commission report to the Chief Minister, Jayaprakash Hegde said that he was happy that he submitted the Commission report before demitting the office and found the report had absolutely no wrong in it.
He said that data has been collected from every household of more than 1.35 lakh families and data has been gathered from 5.98 crore people with a 54-questionnaire. On the basis of the data collected by the then Commission, the report has been submitted to the State Government.
However, the Commission report had got into trouble after it was rumoured that a portion of its content leaked which stated that two dominant communities-Lingayats and Vokkaligas do not form the major chunk of Karnataka’s population and members of Scheduled Castes and Muslims are largest communities caste wise in Karnataka.
As per the leaked portion of the report, SCs formed about 19 percent followed by Muslims at 16 percent. Currently, it is believed that Lingayats and Vokkaligas, both politically dominant communities comprise about 17 and 15 percent respectively.
Taking into account the leaked portion of the socio-economic and educational survey report, political leaders belonging to Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities have opposed the report terming it as “unscientific.”
Hailing from Lingayat community, Minister for Heavy Industries M.B. Patil told reporters in Bengaluru that “Let the report come before the cabinet meeting” while Minister for Agriculture Chaluvarayaswamy, belonging to Vokkaliga community, exuded confidence that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would not render “injustice” to any communities.
It may be recalled here that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during his first tenure as Chief Minister (2013-18) had initiated the conduct of socio-economic and education survey in Karnataka and then the Commission was headed by H. Kantharaju. The survey was conducted in Karnataka from 2015-2018.
After Kantharaju, Jayaprakash Hegde took charge as the Commission Chairman in November 2020 on the orders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka. Hegde’s term as the Chairman of the Commission ended in November previous year and it was extended twice by the ruling Congress government before his term completed on Thursday.
