Former Member of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes allays fears, dismisses bias

Mysore/Mysuru: Former Member of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes K.N. Lingappa, who was a part of the team that conducted the socio-economic and education survey-2015, most known as caste survey, has claimed that the caste survey that was held under the leadership of former Chairman of State Backward Classes Commission H. Kantharaj was accurate.

The caste survey has hit headlines with prominent communities and leaders crying foul. Following the outcry, the present Chairman of the Commission K. Jayaprakash Hegde is preparing to submit the report. Lingappa pooh-poohed the claims of certain sections of the society sounding sceptical over the contents of the survey report.

Participating in an interaction organised by Mysuru District Journalists Association (MDJA) at Patrakarthara Bhavan in city this morning, Lingappa, who was the Commissioner of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), said that the caste survey will do justice to many communities which are still deprived of benefits of the Government to come to the mainstream of the society.

Dismissing the arguments of some of the communities and religious heads as unfounded, Lingappa claimed that no communities were ignored during the survey, as 1.35 crore households against 1.32 crore mentioned in Population Census, were visited by enumerators during the survey.

He said, barring a few minor glitches that may happen due to the negligence of enumerators, the survey report vouches for 98 percent accuracy and transparency, in compliance with even the criterion set by Supreme Court in the case of outcome of surveys in general to consider them as a ‘complete report.’

Owing to paucity of time to visit the households during survey in Bruhat Bengaluru MahanagaraPalike (BBMP) limits, the Commission had sought two weeks additional time. Even the help of then Bengaluru City Police Commissioner N. Bhaskar Rao was also sought to ward off the general fears among the people to come out with adequate information during the survey. But, BBMP was dissolved by that time. Till then, we had covered 85 lakh households in Bengaluru, said Lingappa.

The report was printed in 20 volumes, but by the time the publication was completed, the Model Code of Conduct came into effect in view of the elections. The coalition Government that came to power later in the State, was cold towards repeated efforts made to submit the  report, with the then Chief Minister himself being averse to accepting the report.

The copies of the report were later sealed and kept in a room locked, the key of which was handed over to the  Member-Secretary of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes. That being printed copies and not handwritten, there is no chance of losing the report, clarified Lingappa, in the wake of recent media reports that the copies have gone missing.

There is a mention of 1,351 castes in the report, which are listed under Government and also by Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) Corporations. There exists a caste with 2.5 lakh population in the State, 25,000 of who still live in thatched huts. The caste report will be a boon for such sections of the society, said Lingappa.

General Secretary of MDJA M. Subramanya and State Committee Member B. Raghavendra were present at the interaction with media persons.