Karnataka caste census: Panel prepares sixty survey questions to be posed to seven crore people
Bengaluru: With about 1,800 castes listed and 60 survey questions, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes is gearing up to launch the socio-economic survey of the nearly 7 crore population from September 22.
In preparation for the massive exercise, household mapping is currently underway, and a handbook has been printed to aid in the training process. “We discussed having around 70 questions in the beginning, which has been brought down to about 60. The handbook has been printed for use in training teachers and master trainers,” The Hindu quoted Commission sources as saying.
The training for master trainers will commence on September 8, followed by training for nearly 1.6 lakh school teachers, who will serve as enumerators in the house-to-house survey, starting September 12.
The Energy Department, which is providing geo-tagged household data, has already completed more than 35% of the mapping, and has committed to delivering the full list of households by September 15.
Earlier, the Commission had published a provisional list of 1,400 castes and sub-castes, inviting objections from the public. In response, several communities reportedly submitted requests to add omitted names or alternate names/synonyms for their castes.
The commission had deliberately dropped the names of those castes that had less than 10 households from the published list of 1,400 castes, and a request had come to include them. “We are considering their requests. We expect the caste list to exceed just over 1,800 in the State at the start of the survey. We will also include the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the final list,” The Hindu quoted Commission sources as saying.
Despite the scale of the upcoming door-to-door survey and concerns raised over limited preparation time, Commission officials remain confident. They mentioned that advanced technologies will be used to conduct the survey and monitor its functioning. “If a household is left out of the survey, it can be identified using geo-tagging. We will complete the survey on schedule,” they added.
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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee moves SC against SIR
New Delhi (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the state, sources said on Sunday.
The petition names the Election Commission (EC) and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal as respondents. It was filed before the apex court on January 28, the sources said.
Banerjee arrived in Delhi on Sunday. She is scheduled to meet Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at 4 pm on Monday to discuss the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo would be accompanied by a delegation of party leaders.
She is also likely to meet party MPs in the Parliament House on Monday.
Talking to reporters at the Kolkata airport before leaving for the national capital, Banerjee claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is resorting to the SIR exercise because it is certain of its imminent defeat in the West Bengal Assembly polls, due in a few months, and said the saffron party should contest the election politically and democratically.
The West Bengal chief minister has written several letters to the CEC, raising concerns over the conduct of the exercise.
In her most recent letter to the CEC on January 31, she alleged that the methodology and approach of the exercise went beyond the provisions of the Representation of the People Act and the relevant rules, causing "immense inconvenience and agony" to citizens.
Earlier, TMC leaders, including Rajya Sabha MPs Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, had moved the apex court, challenging certain aspects of how the SIR is being carried out in West Bengal.
