Pressure mounting on Cong govt in Karnataka to make caste census report public

With the Bihar government releasing findings of its caste survey pressure seems to be mounting on the Karnataka government especially within the ruling Congress to make the states Socioeconomic and Educational Census popularly known as the caste census publicThe then Siddaramaiahled Congress government in 2015 had commissioned the Social and Educational Survey at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore in the state the findings of which have not been made public yetThe state Backward Classes Commission under its then chairperson H Kantharaj was tasked to come up with the caste censusAccording to some analysts the successive governments were shying away from releasing it as the findings of the survey are allegedly contrary to the traditional perception of the numerical strength of various castes in Karnataka especially the dominant Lingayats and Vokkaligas making it a political hot potatoPolitical parties in the state have been indulging in a blame game for long for not accepting the survey and not making it publicSenior Congress leader B K Hariprasad complimenting Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav urged his party government in Karnataka to release the caste census data at the earliestCaste census is a longstanding demand as it will help in getting various communities the right they deserve It has been the desire of our top leader Rahul Gandhi for long that there should be a caste census both in the state and the country and on the basis of it the population programmes have to be designed For it to become fruitful the Kantharaj Commissions report that is there has to be made public Hariprasad saidSpeaking to reporters in New Delhi he said by rectifying the shortcomings in that report if any it needs to be implementedIf the report is not discussed in public it will not yield any results There is nothing in it to keep it secret The census has been done with public money about Rs 170 crore has been spent on it The previous BJP government did not implement it as now our own government is there it has to be made public and later after discussion in both Houses of Legislature let the government decide on its implementation he addedPointing out that Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister from the Congress Hariprasad who has publicly criticised the CM in the past in response to a question said as party top leader Rahul Gandhi has said caste census has to happen and on the basis of it programmes have to be formulated we are in complete support that it should be made public and efforts should be put towards bringing it into effectKota Srinivas Poojary who was Minister for Social Welfare and Backward Classes Welfare in the previous BJP government had earlier cited the then membersecretary of the State Commission for Backward Classes not signing the final report as the technical hurdle that has hindered the release of the reportHe had said the caste census report is currently with the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes and once it submits the report the cabinet would take a decisionThe present Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission Chairperson K Jayaprakash Hegde today said the report is likely to be submitted to the government by next monthThere was a technical problem the report that was made ready earlier was without the signature of the membersecretaryIts now before us we are finalising it We will submit it to the governmentmaybe next monthMeanwhile Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said once the Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission submits the report his government will decide on itAfter ordering for the caste census I had tasked the Backward Classes Commission under Kantharaj to prepare a report By the time our governments tenure ended the report was not complete and it was not completed The coalition government CongressJDS headed by H D Kumaraswamy came to power subsequently he did not accept the report later Kantharajs tenure too ended he explainedThe current Chairperson of the Commission Jayaprakash Hegde was appointed by the BJP government who has to submit a report duly signed by the membersecretary he said if he submits the report lets seeI had asked Hegde once he said he will submit but it has not come to us yetWelcoming the Bihar governments move PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi said its a good development and his desire is that similar steps should be taken in the state too and discussions are on in this regard at the government levelOur states caste census report has been ready for several years now the government and the Chief Minister have to decide on it There is pressure to make it public it is good if it is made public by making it public it will know about the programmes to be formulated for the communities and if extra budget was required for their economic and social development he saidThe report had come during the fag end of Congress earlier tenure in the government and as there were elections it could not be proceeded with he said adding now that we have come to power discussions are on in this regard at the government level and our desire is it should be done at the earliestThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever