Karnataka government keen to release caste census despite opposition from dominant castes, indicates Home Minister G Parameshwara

The acceptance of the caste survey has, however, been opposed by the Vokkaligara Sangha and All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, which represents the two dominant caste groups in the state – Vokkaligas and Lingayats.

In fact, the Veerashaiva Mahasabha has passed a fresh resolution at its meeting this week to oppose the caste census report gathered by the Congress government.

“The chief minister has already said that he will be placing it (caste census report) before the cabinet. In the next cabinet meeting it will be taken up and discussed and all its merits and demerits will be considered, the CM has stated,” Parameshwara said Tuesday.

The next cabinet meeting of the Congress government is scheduled on October 28. However, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has indicated that the election code of conduct that is in place on account of the bypolls to the three Assembly seats in the state on November 13 would restrain the government from taking up caste related policy issues till the end of the code of conduct.

“As per these statements, I am assuming that the caste census report may come up before the next cabinet meeting. We will discuss it. The survey has been done at an expenditure of Rs 160 crore. If we do not place the report before the people, the expenditure will go for a waste. As a result, we have to place the findings before the people,” the Home minister said.

Parameshwara, who hails from the Dalit community, suggested that the move to make the report public would be separate from a decision to implement the findings of the report – which is being opposed by dominant caste groups who fear that state policies will be skewed against them if the caste census throws up lower numbers for their communities.

“The issue of implementing the report is separate from making the report public. The first step is to place the report before the public. The decisions to implement policies based on the report will be at a later date. There is no need for anyone to be agitated,” he said.

The Home minister also said that the caste census report could throw light on disparities within Scheduled Caste groups and facilitate the implementation of internal quotas for Scheduled Castes which has been cleared by the Supreme Court.

Veerashaiva (Lingayat) Mahasabha president Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who is also a Congress MLA, had this week said, “We are not against caste census, but the Kantharaj Commission report is filled with several contradictions and flaws. A fresh census should be conducted.”

On October 7, a delegation of legislators from the OBC communities met chief minister Siddaramaiah to demand the implementation of a Karnataka Socio-economic and Educational Census or caste survey which is yet to be accepted by the state after the Backward Classes Commission submitted the survey in February this year.

“The first of its kind survey was taken up in Karnataka during our tenure in 2014 and it will be discussed in the Cabinet,” Siddaramaiah, an OBC leader, had said after the October 7 meeting.

“The Congress party has the capacity to deal with the caste related challenges in the state. Siddaramaiah is capable of doing it. There is a Supreme Court order which says that the reservation percentage must not go over 50 per cent. In some states it has gone up to 60 per cent. In Tamil Nadu, there is 69 per cent reservation, which is legally protected through the inclusion in the ninth schedule of the constitution,” Parameshwar said.

“In our state different communities are asking for reservations and if we have to meet their demands, we would have to cross the 50 per cent mark. Discussions are going on and in Karnataka also the reservations could exceed 50 per cent if necessary,” he said.