BENGALURU: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah announced Thursday that the much-anticipated Socio-Economic and Education Survey report – commonly called “caste census” – will be taken up for discussion at the next cabinet meeting. The report, currently sealed, will be opened in the cabinet hall two hours before the meeting, he added.
This decision comes after govt faced criticism for deferring the report’s release at Thursday’s cabinet meeting, reportedly under pressure from various caste groups.
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The date of the next cabinet meeting is still undecided. Law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil defended the delay, citing administrative concerns. “We will certainly open the sealed cover at the next cabinet,” he said.
State industries minister MB Patil, a prominent Lingayat face in the governing Congress, meanwhile said that excluding Lingayat sub-sects from the caste census report would amount to a grave injustice, comments that could trigger a political storm. “Many Lingayat sub-sects have registered as Hindus due to reservation policies, but they remain part of the Lingayat community,” Patil said. “We need to bring these sub-sects under one umbrella. Only then will the true picture emerge. If they are left out, it’s a mistake. If the report is correct, we are fine; if not, we will ask the CM to rectify it,” MB Patil said. “People belonging to Lingayat subsects have identified themselves as Hindu Ganiga, Hindu Sadhu, Hindu Banajiga, Hindu Reddy, and others to avail of reservations under categories 2A and 3A. This does not mean they are not Lingayats,” MB Patil said. “They must be counted as Lingayats regardless of what they have written; everyone knows these are Lingayat sub-castes.”
State law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil dismissed reports that govt feared a backlash from dominant communities over alleged leaked numbers. “This is just speculation. The report remains sealed and safely deposited in the treasury. No numbers from the official report have been made public,” he added.
The caste census, commissioned during Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as CM in 2014, has been a topic of debate since its completion in 2016. Conducted at a cost of Rs 169 crore under the Backward Classes Commission led by H Kantharaju, the census findings remained in cold storage during successive govts, including the Congress-JD(S) coalition and BJP administrations. The final report, submitted by commission chief Jayaprakash Hegde in Feb 2024, is yet to be opened.
RDPR minister Priyank Kharge stressed that the document is a socio-economic survey, not a caste census. “Nobody knows the findings of the report,” Kharge added.