Karnataka caste census begins today, minor delay possible in Bengaluru

Social and Educational Survey, popularly known as the 'caste census' in Karnataka, is to begin on Monday, though the exercise may be delayed by a day or two in Greater Bengaluru area in order to impart training and ensure necesary preparations.

The survey by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes that will go on till October 7, will see as many as 1.75 lakh enumerators, mostly government school teachers, covering around 7 crore people in approximately 2 crore households across the state.

The survey, at an estimated cost of Rs 420 crore, will be conducted "scientifically," with a 60-question questionnaire prepared for the exercise, according to officials.

Meanwhile, amid criticism and objections from various sections, including within the ruling Congress, regarding the castes list prepared for the survey, containing a number of castes with dual identities -- having both Christian and Hindu caste names -- like 'Kuruba Christian', 'Brahmin Christian', 'Vokkaliga Christian' among others, the commission said, the names of these castes will be "masked", but not removed.

Backward Classes Commission's Chairman Madhusudan R Naik on Sunday said the list of castes in the handbook was not for public information and doesn't have any legal sanctity, it was only to help the enumerators get the list of castes in the drop-down as per the alphabetical order.

He said the app used for the survey will not show these 33 castes with dual identities, with them being masked now. However, the citizen is free to enumerate according to his choice.

"Our survey will commence from September 22. We have made all the preparations. In the public perception, there were misconceptions and certain issues were being debated. Taking note of those concerns, the commission met and deliberated," Naik said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "Taking note of the possible creation of confusion in the minds of the public, we have resolved that the drop-down which is only for our internal consumption, will not prompt certain castes, which were perceived to be something which is not acceptable to certain sections of the people."  "Those castes will not get prompted by the surveyors for noting them down, but however it will remain in the system and anybody out of his free will, can always notify the surveyor that he belongs to such caste," he added.

Noting that in addition, the commission has also addressed certain other concerns like the KYC difficulties that may be faced, Naik said, an app has been introduced to have the face recognition, and it will possibly bring down the concerns with regard to authentication of Aadhaar.

"Otherwise our preparation is complete, we will be commencing our survey from Monday," he said.

The commission's chairman also said, at the request of the administrative authorities of Greater Bengaluru, there may be a delay by a day or two for the survey in the city. "But our programme is there for the entire period of September 22 to October 7," he added.

According to officials, each household will be geo-tagged using its electricity meter number and will be assigned a Unique Household ID (UHID).

During the data collection process, ration cards and Aadhaar details will be linked to mobile numbers.

For those who are not at home during the survey and to address grievances, if any, a dedicated helpline number (8050770004) has been set up. Citizens can also participate online, they added.

Aimed at consolidating their castes strength, seers and leaders of Vokkaligas, a dominant community, have asked their people to identify their religion as 'Hindu' and caste as just 'Vokkaliga', while "sub-caste should be mentioned only if it is absolutely necessary.

There seems to be some lack of clarity among another dominant community, the Veerahaiva-Lingayats, as leaders have suggested the community members exercise their discretion while mentioning their religion, while urging them to mention Veerashaiva-Lingayat in the caste column. There were voices within the community to mention Veerashaiva-Lingayat as a religion, instead of Hindus.

Several other communities like Kurubas, Muslims, Scheduled Castes, Brahmins, among others too have held meetings to decide how they should identify themselves during the survey in order to consolidate their numbers.

The BJP, which has accused the Congress government of conducting the survey "hastily" to "divide Hindus", has also questioned the need for the survey, when the Centre has already announced caste enumeration in the national census.

The government had spent Rs 165.51 crore on an earlier Social and Educational Survey in 2015, which was later discarded.

The Karnataka Cabinet on June 12 approved a fresh survey, effectively nullifying the 2015 exercise, citing Section 11(1) of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1995, which mandates a revision of the state backward classes list once every 10 years.

Several communities, notably Karnataka's two dominant groups--Vokkaligas and Veershaiva-Lingayats--had expressed strong reservations about the 2015 survey, calling it "unscientific" and demanding a fresh enumeration. There were also opposing voices from within the ruling Congress party.