Karnataka Caste Census Stuck As 13 Departments Ignore Deadline, Face Govt’s Ire | Politics News

According to commission officials, the door-to-door survey has been completed and they have already generated sufficient primary data. (PTI)

With Karnataka racing to complete its long-promised Social and Educational Survey, as many as 13 government departments have yet to submit the crucial secondary data sought by the State Backward Classes Commission, delaying the final stages of the state’s caste census.

A government communication accessed by News18 shows the administration has now issued a stern final reminder, pulling up these departments for repeatedly missing deadlines despite clear instructions.

The door-to-door enumeration, which forms the backbone of the survey, was conducted between September and October and officially closed on October 31, 2025. Those who missed the visit of enumerators were allowed to upload their details online till November 30, as part of an extension aimed at widening the coverage. The exercise attempted to count every household in Karnataka and logged a participation rate of around 90 per cent, but the commission still requires departmental records to map caste representation in government service and educational institutions.

In her letter, Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner Uma Mahadevan expressed strong concern over the non-compliance.

She pointed out that trained nodal officers had been appointed and instructed specifically for this purpose, but “several departments have not uploaded the required data”.

She directed all Additional Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries to upload caste-wise details of staff across Groups A, B, C and D, as well as corresponding information on university and college students.

It is learnt that despite multiple reminders, major departments, including Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Urban Development, Housing, Higher Education, School Education, Revenue, Social Security, Sericulture, Fisheries, Commerce and Industries, Health and Family Welfare, besides some divisions under Public Works and Women and Child Development, have not uploaded the necessary information. These departments have failed to provide even the basic caste composition of their workforce or student rolls.

Other departments such as Finance, Rural Development, Minor Irrigation, Agriculture, Labour, Major Irrigation, Skill Development, Home, Internal Administration, Infrastructure and Law have only submitted partial data, which officials say is insufficient for the commission to proceed.

The letter says the information is “essential for making recommendations to the government”, and notes that the deadline of November 30 has “not been complied with”. The government said it expects all pending datasets to be uploaded “by the morning of (December 2).”

Meanwhile, several departments have fully complied, including Energy, Social Welfare, Backward Classes Welfare, Animal Husbandry, Co-operation, Medical Education, Kannada and Culture, Youth Empowerment, IT/BT, Scheduled Castes Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs, Horticulture and Information and Public Relations.

According to commission officials, the door-to-door survey has been completed and they have already generated sufficient primary data to analyse the socio-economic and educational status of communities across Karnataka.

The officials who spoke to News18 on the condition of anonymity said “there is no strict deadline given for the submission of the report, nor is there any fixed legal requirement for the number of persons who must be enumerated. We are doing our job, just right”.

It is important that “enough households have been captured to enable analysis” and right now the analysis is in process, the officer explained.

The survey recorded 6.13 crore participants out of the projected 6.85 crore population. However, 34.49 lakh households—23.28 per cent of the state’s 1.48 crore estimated households—were marked as vacant or locked. Officials have described this number as “not relevant for our purpose” and said further debate on it is unnecessary. Additionally, 4.22 lakh families—2.84 per cent—refused to participate, many reportedly influenced by calls to boycott the process.

Enumeration trends differed sharply across regions. Several districts recorded over 100 per cent enumeration, attributed to Bengaluru residents listing themselves in their native towns, while others were as low as 30 per cent.

The survey, launched afresh this year at a cost of Rs 420 crore after the previous report was scrapped, has faced both political and administrative resistance. Several opposition leaders, including MPs Tejasvi Surya and PC Mohan, had openly urged people not to participate. Even Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murthy and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy refused to participate in the exercise.

The exercise, which was initially scheduled to end on October 7, had to be extended multiple times due to such challenges.

While the fieldwork is complete, the survey cannot move to its final stage without the secondary datasets held by government departments. Officials say the entire exercise—built on a revised, “scientifically designed” 60-question questionnaire—remains stalled until all departments comply. The previous 2015 survey, which cost Rs 165.51 crore, was later put into cold storage.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah announced this new census to be a socio-economic-educational survey, a more massive exercise than the previous one that he had launched in his first term between 2013-2018. It remained in limbo for over a decade, and the data collected later lost relevance as it was almost a decade old.