Caste census report by November: Karnataka BC panel chief

The “Mandal versus kamandal” politics seems to have built a grand narrative ahead of the crucial 2024 general elections in Karnataka. With the “nationalist” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) all set to play Hindutva and Hindu-Hindi Rashtra card, Opposition parties, especially the INDIA alliance, are trying to attract the support of a major section of society that has been perceived as facing the brunt of upper caste prejudices.

The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka is all set to accept the much-awaited, ambitious report of the Socio-Educational Survey, popularly known as “caste census”. Following a direction from the government, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC) is busy giving the final touches to what is being described as a “politically sensitive” caste census.

Experts committee

Meanwhile, the Commission has constituted a five-member committee, including Prof. Abdul Azeez of the Institute for Social and Economic Change, renowned sociologist Prof. Jogan Shankar, Director of Public Affairs Centre, Chaya K Degaonkar, Prof. CM Lakshman, and C Kempaiah, former secretary of the Backward Classes Commission.

Accepting the caste census was one of the few promises made by the Congress in Karnataka in the run-up to the recent Assembly polls. The government’s decision is viewed as a “fitting reply” to Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment A Narayanaswamy, who challenged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to accept the caste census report and implement internal quota.

The decision of the Karnataka government to accept the caste census gained significance following the Supreme Court’s stay on the publication of uploading of data collected in the recently concluded Bihar “caste-based survey” on August 18.

National implications

The decision of the government to accept the commission’s report will have larger ramifications on national politics, especially at a time when political parties, including JD(U), RJD, SP, DMK, NCP, and BJP, are demanding a caste census in their respective regions. It is also important to note that Congress national president Mallikarjuna Kharge on August 22 promised a caste census in the poll-bound Madhya Pradesh if the party wins the Assembly polls.

In an exclusive interview with The Federal, K Jayaprakash Hegde, Chairman, KSCBC, stated that the “process of offering final touches to the socio-educational survey report is on and the report will be submitted to the government in the next two months”.

Importance of the report

It is important to note that the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government had commissioned the survey upon coming to power in 2013. Interestingly, the Kantharaj Commission conducted this socio-economic survey after nearly eight decades. This survey was earlier conducted in 1935. In 2017, the Congress government even extended the term of the KSCBC chairman and spent a whopping Rs 162 crore. The survey covered 1.36 crore households with a population of six crore.

“Not socio-economic, but socio-educational survey”

Jayaprakash Hegde refused to refer to the report to be submitted to the government as a “socio-economic survey” but preferred to refer to it as a “socio-educational survey” following the Supreme Court Constitutional Bench upholding the validity of the 103^rd amendment, which introduced reservation for Economically Weaker Sections in education and employment last year. The BJP-led NDA government brought the 103^rd amendment to the Constitution in November 2022.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q. What forced you to submit the socio-educational census, which was in “hibernation” for the past eight years?

A. After resolving to accept the recommendations of the socio-educational survey conducted by the Commission headed by H Kantharaj, the Secretary to the Karnataka State Backward Classes Welfare Department asked the Member Secretary of the Commission to submit the report. Following that, the KSCBC has been preparing to submit the report.

Q. When are you planning to submit the report? How long will the Commission need to finalise the report?

A. In all probability, the report will be submitted to the government in the next two months. The Kantharaj Commission collected all relevant information and data before honing the socially significant report. This report could not be submitted just because of minor technical issues. For example, the report did not have the Member Secretary’s signature. The onus of attending to minor technical problems and submitting the report now lies on us. We need some time to complete all technical and constitutional formalities.

Q. Your term as the Chairman of KSCBC will end in November. Will it be possible to submit the report by then?

A. Of course, the report will be submitted by November. The Kantharaj Commission’s report was finalised in 2015 and the report was printed. But its recommendations could not be submitted to the government at that time because of some technical problems. We are in the process of sorting those out. However, it will be difficult to submit the report in its original form, as society has seen changes in the past eight years, and the BJP government at the Centre brought the EWS quota in 2019, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Q. What are the challenges before the Commission in submitting the report?

A. The challenge is to review the Kantharaj Commission report based on societal changes and the implications of the EWS reservation, as social and economic indicators have changed. The commission and the experts committee constituted will consider all these issues before finalising the report.

Q. Will you again call objections from various sections of society?

A. No. The commission doesn’t intend to call objections again. We will keep the Kantharaj Commission report as the basis for every change made in the report to be submitted to the government. But we are receiving memoranda from various sections, which claim to be not included in the Kantharaj Commission report. We have asked those communities to submit records to facilitate the Commission to take a final call before submitting the report. The Commission had already submitted 34 sub-reports on these categories to the government.

Q. Don’t you think the Supreme Court stay on the reservation carved for Lingayats and Vokkaligas by scrapping the 4 percent reservation to Muslims is a setback for the Commission?

A. No. The government took its decision without taking the Commission’s report on the socio-economic status of the various communities. Even the Apex court questioned the rationale behind the move.

Q. Is the Commission facing any political pressure to submit the report?

A. No, there is no political compulsion for the Commission to submit the report. Since the government has asked the Commission to submit the report, we have hastened the process of finalising and submitting it.