The second Socio-Economic and Educational Survey (popularly called caste census) by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes will be conducted from September 22 to October 7. The commission has been told to submit the final report with recommendations before the end of October.

The commission has been told to study a similar survey conducted by the Telengana government.

This comes amidst some misgivings expressed by experts over the conduct of a fresh survey of the entire population in a short time frame.

Survey to cover 7 crore population of Karnataka

The survey of the seven crore population of Karnataka will be done by 1.65 lakh enumerators over 15 days. Apart from teachers, employees from various departments of the government would be roped in for the exercise this time.

The second survey comes after the government decided to keep aside the first survey conducted in 2015 by the commission headed by H. Kantharaj, the report of which was submitted by the commission headed by K. Jayaprakash Hegde in 2024. Following pressure from land-owning and politically dominant Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats, the government shied away from accepting the report and implementing its recommendations, but the official reason cited was that the survey is based on decade-old data, and a fresh survey was necessary.

“The commission has submitted a proposal to the government to conduct the survey. Addressing discrimination of castes is the main focus of the survey, which should become a model for the country,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said after chairing a meeting on July 23 to discuss modalities of the survey.

The survey, he said, would be the basis for preparation of the next budget, and that the comprehensive survey would include economic conditions, including land and property holdings, of every person in Karnataka. “The commission has been told to submit the report before October-end.”

He said that precautions should be taken to prevent any scope for complaints. “Survey work should be transparent, and efforts should be made to ensure that no one is excluded.” The commission should start training and other preparatory work, he added.

Will use an app

Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the survey would be conducted using an app while the previous survey by the Kantharaj Commission was done manually.

“The previous survey had 54 questions for respondents. We will have more questions this time. A technical committee will be set up to finalise the questions. The survey should be scientific and transparent.”

He has directed the commission to have a high-power committee to monitor the survey work in Bengaluru where the previous survey lagged due to non-cooperation of people, and lack of manpower, among other reasons.

Backward Classes Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi, Commission Chairperson Madhusudan R. Naik and Chief Secretary Shalini Rajaneesh were among those present in the meeting.