Nearly a decade after the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes completed the Socio-economic and Educational Survey (caste census) of families in the State, the State Cabinet on April 11 accepted the report — running into 50 volumes — which will now be discussed in detail at the special Cabinet meeting on April 17.
Among the many reccomendations, the report has proposed an increase in reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) from the existing 32% to 51%. This would result in total reservation in the State going up to 85%, including 10% for the economically weaker sections (EWS) and 24% for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
However, pushback to the report has come from the land-owning and politically dominant Veerashaiva-Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities. Given the role caste plays in electoral politics, Ministers and Congress MLAs, belonging to the two communities, have issued statements questioning the “scientific” basis of the voluminous report.
Meanwhile, in a bid to counter the pressure, a group of Congress leaders from backward classes urged the government to accept the recommendation and appealed against emotional outbursts against the survey report. The Congress leaders believe that there was no need to politicise a scientific report even before it has become public.
What has also raised eyebrows is the reclassification of Kurubas, widely seen as a relatively well-off community with political representation both in Parliament and the State legislature. Along with a few other communities, Kurubas have been recommended to be moved from more backward category of 2A to most backward in category 1B. Incidentally, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who commissioned the survey in 2015 under H. Kantharaj Commission, belongs to the Kuruba community.
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Published – April 17, 2025 04:43 pm IST
