State Govt. to spend Rs. 450 cr. amidst financial crunch

Bengaluru: The State Government’s decision to go ahead with a Rs. 420-450 crore Social and Educational Survey, despite claiming an “empty treasury,” has thrown up a complex mix of fiscal prudence, social equity and electoral strategy.

Speaking to media persons, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Friday that the long-awaited enumeration, widely known as the caste census will be conducted between Sept. 22 and Oct. 7 to map the social and educational status of seven crore people.

“The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes led by Madhusudhan R. Naik, has drawn up a 60-question questionnaire and is expected to submit its report by December,” he added. Nearly 1.75 lakh government school teachers will be deployed during the Dasara holidays to collect household data, earning up to Rs 20,000 each. This manpower component alone accounts for about Rs. 325 crore of the total cost. Officials said the original estimate of Rs. 600 crore was scaled back to around Rs. 425 crore to Rs. 450 crore after review, but the financial commitment remains substantial at a time when the State has trimmed or deferred other welfare schemes citing resource shortages.

This is Karnataka’s second attempt at such an exercise in a decade. The 2015 Kantharaju Commission survey, which cost Rs 165.51 crore, was never officially released after being criticised                                                                    as “unscientific.”

On June 12 this year, the Cabinet approved a new enumeration, invoking Section 11(1) of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1995, which mandates a revision                                                              of the backward-classes list every ten years.