Karnataka High Court Allows Caste Survey with Conditions
The Karnataka High Court has refused to halt the state's ongoing Social and Educational Survey, popularly known as a caste survey. However, the court imposed strict conditions, ruling that participation must be entirely voluntary and that enumerators must clearly inform citizens of this. It also ordered that all data collected must be kept confidential and cannot be shared with any party, including the state government. The ruling is a key legal development in a politically sensitive and widely watched policy initiative.
Unpacked:
The previous caste survey from 2015 was discarded due to criticisms about its methodology and concerns raised by dominant communities. The new survey aims to address issues of accuracy, inclusivity, and to comply with the legal requirement for periodic revision of the backward classes list every 10 years.
Critics, including opposition parties and some community groups, argue the survey could be divisive, question its necessity given a national census, and raise concerns about the inclusion of dual-identity caste names. There is also internal dissent within the ruling Congress party about the approach and execution of the survey.
The High Court has mandated that all collected data remain confidential and not be shared with any party, including the state government. Enumerators are required to inform respondents that participation is voluntary, further helping to protect privacy.[summary]
The survey aims to cover nearly 7 crore people across 2 crore households, with about 1.75 lakh enumerators deployed. The resulting data is expected to influence revisions to reservation policies and the classification of backward classes in Karnataka, making it politically and socially significant.