<p>Bengaluru: Seventy per cent of Karnataka’s population belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which includes Muslims, according to the Socio-Economic & Educational Survey, or caste census, whose findings could potentially shake up the state’s political landscape. </p><p>A total of 5.98 crore citizens were covered under the survey carried out in 2015. Of them, 4.16 crore, or 70 per cent, come under various OBC categories, according to the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes’ report, which was accepted by the Cabinet on Friday. </p>.Include 60% commission charge against Karnataka govt in SIT probe: BJP's Bommai.<p>The caste-wise break-up of OBCs is not available yet. </p><p>At 1.52 crore, or 25 per cent, the SC/STs form the largest social bloc in Karnataka. They are followed by Muslims, the lone occupants under OBC Category-2B, with a population of 75.25 lakh. </p><p>The SC/STs and OBCs make up for 94 per cent of the surveyed population. The remaining is the general category at 29.74 lakh, according to the report. </p><p>The Commission has recommended hiking the OBC quota to 51 per cent, up from the current 32 per cent. </p><p>“The difference between the OBC population (70 per cent) and the existing quantum of reservation (32 per cent) is 38 per cent. Half of this difference (19 per cent) be added to the existing quantum of reservation and the other half (19 per cent) be retained under the general category. Doing so would increase the OBC reservation from 32 per cent to 51 per cent, which the Commission feels is appropriate in all ways,” the report stated. </p><p>Giving OBCs a 51 per cent quota along with 17 per cent for SCs and 7 per cent for STs will take the state’s total reservation to 75 per cent, a key promise Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had made before coming to power. </p><p>During the day, there was clamour in Congress to hike reservations, which will mean breaking the 50 per cent ceiling fixed by the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney judgement. </p>.'Enough is Enough': JD(S) protests against Karnataka govt’s price hike, 'corruption'.<p>“With the 10 per cent EWS quota, the Centre has already breached the 50 per cent cap,” Labour Minister Santosh Lad, a vocal caste census supporter, pointed out. “There’s 69 per cent reservation in Tamil Nadu. With this (caste census) report, we can ask the Centre for 69 per cent reservation in our state,” he said.</p><p>Senior Congress leader BK Hariprasad also argued that caste census would provide the much-needed empirical data to take reservations beyond 50 per cent. “If the argument is that reservation hits merit, then Tamil Nadu wouldn’t be India’s top state in terms of human development index,” he said. “States with low reservation such as Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh...they’re the BIMARU, or sick, states.”</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Seventy per cent of Karnataka’s population belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, which includes Muslims, according to the Socio-Economic & Educational Survey, or caste census, whose findings could potentially shake up the state’s political landscape. </p><p>A total of 5.98 crore citizens were covered under the survey carried out in 2015. Of them, 4.16 crore, or 70 per cent, come under various OBC categories, according to the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes’ report, which was accepted by the Cabinet on Friday. </p>.Include 60% commission charge against Karnataka govt in SIT probe: BJP's Bommai.<p>The caste-wise break-up of OBCs is not available yet. </p><p>At 1.52 crore, or 25 per cent, the SC/STs form the largest social bloc in Karnataka. They are followed by Muslims, the lone occupants under OBC Category-2B, with a population of 75.25 lakh. </p><p>The SC/STs and OBCs make up for 94 per cent of the surveyed population. The remaining is the general category at 29.74 lakh, according to the report. </p><p>The Commission has recommended hiking the OBC quota to 51 per cent, up from the current 32 per cent. </p><p>“The difference between the OBC population (70 per cent) and the existing quantum of reservation (32 per cent) is 38 per cent. Half of this difference (19 per cent) be added to the existing quantum of reservation and the other half (19 per cent) be retained under the general category. Doing so would increase the OBC reservation from 32 per cent to 51 per cent, which the Commission feels is appropriate in all ways,” the report stated. </p><p>Giving OBCs a 51 per cent quota along with 17 per cent for SCs and 7 per cent for STs will take the state’s total reservation to 75 per cent, a key promise Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had made before coming to power. </p><p>During the day, there was clamour in Congress to hike reservations, which will mean breaking the 50 per cent ceiling fixed by the Supreme Court in the Indira Sawhney judgement. </p>.'Enough is Enough': JD(S) protests against Karnataka govt’s price hike, 'corruption'.<p>“With the 10 per cent EWS quota, the Centre has already breached the 50 per cent cap,” Labour Minister Santosh Lad, a vocal caste census supporter, pointed out. “There’s 69 per cent reservation in Tamil Nadu. With this (caste census) report, we can ask the Centre for 69 per cent reservation in our state,” he said.</p><p>Senior Congress leader BK Hariprasad also argued that caste census would provide the much-needed empirical data to take reservations beyond 50 per cent. “If the argument is that reservation hits merit, then Tamil Nadu wouldn’t be India’s top state in terms of human development index,” he said. “States with low reservation such as Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh...they’re the BIMARU, or sick, states.”</p>
