Bengaluru, Apr 11: The Social and Educational Survey or what is more popularly known as the caste census beginning on Saturday will be a 20-day exercise that is expected to throw up the reality of the socio-economic status of communities in the State.
Commission Chairman H?Kantharaj said: “Enumerators will ask 55 questions during the survey. It is preferable that the respondent answers all of them as it will help improve the accuracy of the survey,” he said.
As per the questionnaire, citizens will have to state their caste, sub-caste (they can decline to provide the information, if they wish to), state their religion, specify whether they have been converted, state their mother tongue, marital status and age of marriage.
The enumerator will then ask a series of questions on educational qualifications of the members of the household and reasons for discontinuing education after schooling. The enumerator will proceed to ask questions on the employment of the members of the household and business details.
Details of land holdings, agricultural activities (in rural areas) will also be sought. The social schedule will have questions on living environment, source of drinking water, source of lighting, property details and benefits obtained from the government.
The survey is expected to put an end to the debate that only a section of the communities have been eating away all the reservation benefits in educational institutions and government employment. The survey would also help analyse the socio-economic progress of each caste and prompt the government to tweak its reservation policy.
The survey had its share of controversies, especially pertaining to the sub-castes even before it was launched. The BJP had taken exception to mention of sub-caste like Brahmin-Christian, Kuruba-Muslim, Madiga-Christian and Lingayat-Muslim.
The party has accused the government of collecting such information with a hidden agenda to introduce quotas for Christian and Muslim Dalits.
Caste has always been politicised in the State and has been part of vote bank politics. Successive governments have recommended inclusion of different communities in the reservation list.
For instance, in 1951, eighteen castes were classified as backward classes and it rose to 165 in 1959.
The Devaraj Urs government dropped Lingayats from the backward classes list based on a recommendation submitted by the backward classes commission headed by L G Havanur.
As per the commission’s recommendations, Kuruba and Agasa communities got a reservation of 10 per cent. The survey will now throw up the reality whether the deprived are getting benefits of reservation.
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