Karnataka's fresh caste census to cost Rs 420 crore: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said the state's Social and Educational Survey, popularly known as the 'caste census' will be conducted between September 22 and October 7 at an estimated cost of Rs 420 crore.
He said the survey will be conducted "scientifically," with a 60-question questionnaire prepared for the exercise.
"To know the social and educational status of 7 crore people, a fresh survey is being conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, headed by Chairperson Madhusudhan R Naik. They have been asked to complete the survey and submit the report at the earliest. The commission has said it will submit it by December," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
The chief minister said government school teachers will be deployed for the survey during the Dasara holidays. They will be given training and each one of them will survey 120-150 houses in a block.
"About 1,75,000 government school teachers will be employed for the survey, each receiving remuneration of up to Rs 20,000. Remuneration is the major cost component, amounting to around Rs 325 crore. Overall, Rs 420 crore has been allocated for the survey, and additional funds will be provided if needed," he added.
The government had spent Rs 165.51 crore on an earlier Social and Educational Survey in 2015, which was later discarded.
Emphasising that the survey is a crucial step towards achieving social justice and providing equal opportunities for all 7 crore people and 2 crore families in the state, as enshrined in the Constitution, the CM appealed to citizens to participate in this survey, answer all the questions put forth by the enumerators truthfully and to the best of their knowledge.
"To help you prepare, Asha workers will visit your house in advance, before the survey, to provide the application form," he said.
Each household will be geo-tagged using its electricity meter number and will be assigned a Unique Household ID (UHID), a process that has already been completed for 1.55 lakh houses. Even households without an electricity connection will be thoroughly surveyed to ensure no one is excluded, Siddaramaiah said.
During the data collection process, ration cards and Aadhaar details will be linked to mobile numbers. The survey itself will consist of a detailed questionnaire containing 60 questions, regarding details like religion, caste, educational qualification, social situation, employment, land holding among others, he said.
For those who are not at home during the survey and to address grievances, if any, a dedicated helpline number (8050770004) has been set up. Citizens can also participate online, he added.
Responding to a question on this caste census, amid caste enumeration in the national census announced by the centre, Siddaramaiah said, the national census will not have a socio-educational survey data.
The Karnataka Cabinet on June 12 approved a fresh survey, effectively nullifying the 2015 exercise, citing Section 11(1) of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1995, which mandates a revision of the state backward classes list once every 10 years.
The decision followed directions from Congress leaders, including party President Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, to hold caste re-enumeration to address complaints from communities excluded from the previous survey.
Several communities, notably Karnataka's two dominant groups--Vokkaligas and Veershaiva-Lingayats--had expressed strong reservations about the 2015 survey, calling it "unscientific" and demanding a fresh enumeration. There were also opposing voices from within the ruling Congress party for the 2015 survey.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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