Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah
Karnataka CM SiddaramaiahFile photo

Karnataka CM defers tabling of caste census report

The Chief Minister had earlier said that despite opposition, the government would table the report as Rs 160 crore had been spent on preparing it.
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BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was keen on taking up the Socio- Economic and Education Survey report, often referred to as the caste census, at Thursday’s cabinet meeting, now seems to be not so sure. Just three days after he made the statement about tabling the report in the cabinet, he said on Wednesday that they are not tabling it now, but will take it up in subsequent cabinet meetings.

The agenda for Thursday’s cabinet meeting had initially listed it as “opening of sealed cover of the study report on the data of the Social and Educational Survey - 2015 submitted by the Karnataka State Backward Classless Commission,” but after the CM’s statement in New Delhi, it was removed from the revised agenda.

The survey was conducted during Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as CM between 2013 and 2018 when H Kantharaju was heading the Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission. It was submitted in February last year by then chairman Jayaprakash Hegde. Since then, Vokkaligas and Lingayats, including the religious heads of these prominent communities, have raised objections to the report.

Siddaramaiah, during an event in Vijayanagara district on Sunday, however, said that despite opposition, the government will table it before the cabinet as already Rs 160 crore had been spent preparing the report. "We will take necessary action in the coming days,’’ he said in Delhi on Wednesday.

Interestingly, just hours before his statement, Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara said the report will be taken up in the cabinet on Thursday. The government spent taxpayers’ money on the survey and it is the government’s duty to tell people what is in it, he said. “Accepting it or not is up to the government. We all will get to know the abstract of the report,’’ he added.

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