JOIN USChief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said the proposed caste-wise survey to be carried in the State would yield authentic data on socio-economic conditions of people belonging to all castes.
Intervening during a debate on the budget proposals in the Legislative Assembly, Siddaramaiah said the last caste-wise survey was conducted in 1931. Since then no survey was done in the State.
The proposed survey would help the government get authentic data and information on living conditions and poverty levels of all castes including backward classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minorities. The information would include education background too.
“There are poor people in all castes. Post Independence, we have not conducted any survey. Many times judges of High Court and Supreme Court seek data on various castes while hearing the government arguments. So, we can have authentic data through the survey,” he added.
Siddaramaiah also said a decision to conduct caste-wise survey was taken during 2004-05
when he was the deputy chief minister and had allocated Rs 23 crore and Rs two crore was released for conducting the survey. But, the exercise was not completed. If the survey is completed, Karnataka would become the first state in the country to have such report which throws light on all castes.