BENGALURU: A glaring discrepancy in the number of individuals claiming Scheduled Caste (SC) benefits under the Budaga Jangama or Beda Jangama category sparked serious concerns among experts. At a seminar held on Saturday, former Backward Classes Commission chairperson CS Dwarakanath revealed that while the genuine population of Budaga Jangamas is less than 25,000, over 4 lakh are believed to be availing benefits using fake SC caste certificates.
Justice Nagamohan Das, too, expressed concerns and said he plans to take corrective steps to end this menace. Dwarakanath said the situation is not merely an administrative lapse but a systematic exploitation of the reservation system.
Senior IAS officer SM Jamdar and former Supreme Court judge, Justice Gopala Gowda, too expressed their concerns.
Dwarakanath said the genuine Budaga Jangamas are originally Budaga Janagulu, a primitive, hunter-gatherer community, found in parts of Andhra Pradesh and the Hyderabad-Karnataka. They subsist on small game such as rats and squirrels, maintain strict endogamy, and rarely have members who are educated or graduates. “In contrast, the fake certificate holders are often vegetarians, marry outside the community, and include numerous doctors, engineers, and civil servants. They bear no cultural or social resemblance to the real Budaga Jangamas or speak with the same accent,” he noted.
He warned that many fake beneficiaries have entered prestigious positions in Karnataka, depriving genuine SC candidates of their rightful opportunities. Powerful politicians have facilitated the scam, enabling 4 lakh individuals evade scrutiny and benefit from reservations meant for an entirely different and vulnerable community, he alleged. He called for an audit and immediate verification of caste certificates issued in Budaga Jangama category.
Experts appealed to authorities to initiate a thorough investigation and implement corrective measures to protect the rights of genuine SC communities and uphold the credibility of the reservation framework.