3 min readBangaloreApr 30, 2025 11:14 PM IST
First published on: Apr 30, 2025 at 10:49 PM IST
Welcoming its decision to enumerate castes in the upcoming Census, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday urged the BJP-led central government to survey the social, economic and educational status of various communities and to adopt the state model for the exercise.
“The Socioeconomic and Educational Survey carried out by the Karnataka government is a complete model and the state government is ready to offer its expertise to the Centre,” he said in a statement.
A 50-volume report of the Socioeconomic and Educational Survey carried out by the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission was recently placed before the Cabinet but its findings have come under fire from the Opposition BJP and JD(S), along with influential communities such as Vokkaligas and Lingayats.
The survey did not just enumerate various castes present in the state but also studied their social, economic and educational status. “Based on the data compiled, there are attempts being made to revise the reservation limit. In its Caste Census, I am confident that the Central government will also take up this process,” the Congress leader said.
Taking a dig at the BJP for opposing the caste census till now, he said the saffron party had argued that such an exercise would stir strife among various castes, alleging a conspiracy to divide the Hindu community in the country.
After making such claims, it is a welcome development that the BJP and governments led by the party have understood the social significance of caste enumeration, Siddaramaiah said.
On the opposition to the Socioeconomic and Educational Survey, the chief minister said that though a report was ready, the state BJP unit was opposing it with various excuses. Noting that Karnataka was trying to revise the 50 per cent reservation limit upwards, he requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to advise state BJP leaders against opposing the attempt.
Though the survey was commissioned in Karnataka in 2015, it was placed before the cabinet in the second week of April this year, almost a decade later. Successive governments, including the previous Congress government under Siddaramaiah (2013-18), had baulked at tabling it in the state legislature fearing political repercussions.
Siddaramaiah, who commissioned the survey in his first term, took two years after becoming chief minister for the second time in May 2023 to table the report in the cabinet. The nudge to take up the report is said to have come during the Congress national convention recently held in Gujarat, where the party decided to focus on Other Backward Classes.
The Karnataka survey’s findings have estimated that OBCs and religious minorities form around 70 per cent of the state population.
Taking a dig at the BJP for opposing the caste census till now, CM Siddaramaiah said the saffron party had argued that such an exercise would stir strife among various castes, alleging a conspiracy to divide the Hindu community in the country. (Express Photo) 
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