Will enforce caste census: Siddu to BC groups

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah assured backward class organisations that the State government was committed to the implementation of the caste census in the near future. He made the remarks during his meeting with the groups at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The talks coincided with a pre-Budget meeting. The State Budget is slated to be presented on March 7. “The (State) government is in favour of the caste census. Our government has received the caste census report. In the coming days, we will implement it. Let there be no doubt about it,” Siddaramaiah said. On the occasion, he also took aim at the 10 per cent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota, pointing out that the Constitution regarded reservation as the right of “socially and educationally backward groups” who were historically denied representation and not economically backward individuals. Know the issue The Karnataka Socio-Economic and Education Survey, otherwise known as the Kantharaju Commission was constituted in April 2015 during Siddaramaiah’s first term under then Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC) Chairperson H Kantharaj for an estimated Rs 162 crore. However, once the Backward Classes (BC) Kuruba leader lost power in 2018, the report was put aside.

Siddaramaiah had even blamed successive CMs for ignoring the report. Alleged leaks from the report suggest that the two most politically dominant communities in the state – Lingayats and Vokkaligas – were now outnumbered by Dalits and Muslims, both communities with less political heft. This has led to Lingayats and Vokkaligas across party lines to oppose the report, which may recommend increasing the quota share of the more populous groups at the expense of the less populous ones. Lingayat and Vokkaliga ministers from Siddaramaiah’s own Cabinet have co-signed memoranda opposing the release of the caste census. KSCBC under its then chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde had submitted the report nearly a year ago on February 29, 2024.

However, the same has not been presented before the Cabinet despite being on the agenda for several weeks, reportedly due to pressure by the CM’s Lingayat and Vokkaliga Cabinet colleagues. There are speculations that the report may be presented during the upcoming Cabinet meet in Male Mahadeshwara (MM) Hills in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district.