Internal reservation in mind, Karnataka launches survey of SC sub-castes

The handbook on ‘Comprehensive Survey of Scheduled Castes – 2025’ says that it will collect data on the number of members of an SC family, educational details including reasons for discontinuing studies, employment details, annual income, benefits derived from reservation policy in the education sector, assets owned by the family surveyed, source of drinking water, and nature of dwelling area among others. These details will be compiled under the 101 sub-castes listed in the SC category.

“After getting exact data, we have asked the Commission to submit details in 60 days. Recommendations (on internal reservation) will be made after that,” Siddaramaiah said. Across the state, 65,000 teachers appointed by the deputy commissioners of respective districts will serve as enumerators.

The survey was required as the state government did not have exact details on the population of Adi Dravida, Adi Karnataka and Adi Andhra communities, which was crucial to provide internal reservation. The ongoing survey will ensure that members of these communities are enumerated properly under the correct SC sub-categories, he said.

The one-man Commission was formed in November last year, following a Supreme Court decision which empowered states to provide internal reservation for SC communities. States such as Telangana and Haryana have announced quotas within the SC category since the decision. After the Commission was set up, the government also decided to withhold issuing a fresh notification for government jobs from the Karnataka Public Service Commission until the issue of internal reservation for SC communities was settled.

The SC community, numbering around 1.3 crore in Karnataka, is classified under four heads: SC Left, consisting of the most backward communities; SC Right, who are less backward; communities such as Banjaras and Bhovis; and other minor communities. Towards the end of its tenure, the previous BJP government had in March 2023 announced internal reservation for SC communities which was not implemented. Under the scrapped policy, the SC Left community was given 6 per cent of the 17 per cent reservation quota for SCs, while SC Right got 5.5 per cent, communities such as Banjaras and Bhovis got 4.5 per cent and other SC groups got 1 per cent. The announcement back then was met with violent protests in parts of the state.