Sudha Murthy Misunderstood the Survey, Says Siddaramaiah On Her Not Taking Part in Socio-economic Survey
"It is wrong to think of the survey as a survey of the backward classes," Siddaramaiah told reporters. "The central government will also conduct a caste census in the coming days. Will they still not cooperate? They may be showing such disobedience due to the misinformation they have. The state has a population of about seven crore, and this is an economic, educational and social survey of these people." He further stated that the initiative involved people from all sections
BENGALURU: Rajya Sabha member and wife of Infosys Founder Sudha Murthy on Friday came under fire prominently from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and also from Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil over her family’s decision to not to take part in the ongoing socio-economic and educational survey.
Sudha Murthy gave in writing a declaration to an enumerator stating not to be part of the survey citing she did not belong to any of the backward classes in Karnataka. The declaration by Sudha Murthy was signed on October 10th at her residence in Jayanagar of Bengaluru city.
Reacting to Sudha Murthy to stay away from the survey, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters in Mysuru, “What can I comment if persons such as Narayan Murthy and Sudha Murthy if they have a feeling that the socio-economic and educational survey is for backward classes.”
“Are they omniscient?,” he replied to a query and stated “What will they answer in the ensuing National Census-2026 to be conducted by the Union Government?.”
“What can I do if she has misunderstood the survey,” he said and clarified “It is not a backward class survey. It is a survey of the whole population.”
Referring to his government’s ‘Shakti’ scheme, Siddaramaiah said “Doesn’t poor from upper castes reap the benefit from the scheme which allows free travel for women in State owned buses. So is the ‘Gruhalakshmi’ scheme wherein a female head of a family gets Rs 2,000 cash to her account from the State Government.”
In Bengaluru, Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil termed the decision of Sudha Murthy not to be part of the survey as “unfortunate” and her refusal to join socio-economic survey “Not suited to her stature.” He said she has misunderstood the survey while the aim of the survey is to identify the backwardness of people.
“There is no reason why any sane person should refuse giving the information,” Patil said and reiterated “It is unfortunate.”
