Cabinet to discuss caste census, report should be made public: HM

Bengaluru: Home Minister G Parameshwara on Tuesday said the socio-economic and education survey report, also known as the “caste census”, is likely to be discussed in the next cabinet meeting, as he stressed on the need to make its contents public.

He also said that the 50 per cent cap on reservation has to be breached to meet the aspirations of various communities, and the state government would discuss and decide, if need be, as done in other states. “The Chief Minister has said that the caste census report will be placed before the next cabinet and after discussing the pros and cons, a decision will be taken. Accordingly, it will probably come up in the next cabinet. We will discuss it,” Parameshwara said. Addressing reporters, he said the survey was done spending about Rs 160 crore, and if the report is not placed before the people, it will be a waste, and people should at least know what is in it. “If not made public, allegations will be made against our government and the Chief Minister that we covered up the report...”

The cabinet is next scheduled to meet on October 28. Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes under its then Chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde had on February 29 submitted the report to the CM amid objections by certain sections of society and also within the ruling Congress over its implementation.

The Vokkaligas and Lingayats -- Karnataka’s two dominant communities -- have expressed reservations about the survey, calling it “unscientific”, and have demanded that it be rejected and a fresh survey be conducted. With strong disapproval from the two influential communities, the survey report may turn out to be a political hot potato for the Congress government, as it may set the stage for a confrontation, with Dalits and OBCs among others demanding for it to be made public. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, and a Vokkaliga, was a signatory, along with a couple of other ministers, to a memorandum submitted by the community to the Chief Minister earlier, requesting that the report along with the data be rejected.

All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, the apex body of Veerashaiva-Lingayats, which has also expressed its disapproval vis-a-vis the survey and demanded conduct of a fresh survey, is headed by veteran Congress leader and MLA Shamanuru Shivashankarappa. Several Lingayat ministers and MLAs too have raised objections. To a question on objection to the caste census by Veerashaiva Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities and their demand that it should not be implemented, the Home Minister said, “Implementing the report is a different thing. What is there in the report should come out. People have to be informed as to what is there in the report, decisions may happen differently at a later stage. I think there is nothing to worry about.”

The then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) had in 2015 commissioned the survey in the state at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore. According to some analysts, successive governments have been shying away from releasing it as the findings of the survey are allegedly contrary to the “traditional perception” vis-a-vis numerical strength of various castes in Karnataka, especially Lingayats and Vokkaligas, making it a politically sticky issue.

Asked about the government having to bite the bullet on the issues of caste census, internal reservation among SCs and enhanced reservation demand by the Panchamasali Lingayat community within a short span now, he said, “The Congress government and CM Siddaramaiah have the capacity to deal with it. We will discuss, keeping in mind the public cause and make decisions.”

Noting that there is a Supreme Court order that reservation should not cross 50 per cent mark, Parameshwara said, some states have crossed it, some have gone up to 60 per cent and Tamil Nadu has even gone up to 69 per cent, and they have done it legally by adding it to the ninth schedule of the constitution.

“Even in our states there are demands by various communities regarding reservation, and if we have to address those demands, we should also cross 50 per cent. Discussions are on in this regard, and if need be we will decide on crossing the 50 per cent cap in our state too,”

he said.