Newly Included 46 Castes Included in Socio-Economic Survey Dropped
Backwards Classes Commission to cover 2 crore families in 16 days, final report due December
Bengaluru: BJP legislator and former minister V. Sunil Kumar on Sunday stated the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes had dropped 46 newly-included castes from the socio-economic survey starting Monday. Kumar said the commission had directed the hiding of Christian prefixes and suffixes attached to castes in its mobile apps during the survey. Some of the newly included castes were ‘Akkasaliga Christian’, ‘Banajiga Christian’, and ‘Brahman Christian’, among others.
The inclusion of new castes in the survey triggered stiff opposition from BJP leaders who petitioned Governor Thaawarchand Gelhot and demanded that the survey be conducted on scientific lines.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes is set to embark upon a fresh socio-economic and educational survey from Monday. Its chairman Madhusudan Naik, at a press conference in Bengaluru, said enumerators would cover about two crore families in 16 days, till October 7. The commission is expected to submit its final report in December this year.
The enumerators have been trained and would collect data from the families through 60 questions. The data will be analysed and the commission will make recommendations to the state government on facilities to be given to different castes.
Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had appealed to the people to participate in the survey to help the government render social justice and provide equal opportunities to all. The previous survey report of 2014 was not accepted by the state government since it was a decade old.
