Karnataka: Scheduled Caste survey a ‘govt-sponsored’ scam, says BJP

Bengaluru: Following complaints that enumerators deployed for the state-wide survey of Scheduled Castes (SCs) were pasting stickers on homes without completing the verification process, BJP dubbed the entire exercise a ‘government-sponsored’ scam. 

“The enumerators aren’t going to the homes, but merely pasting stickers declaring that the enumeration exercise has been completed. It’s a government-sponsored scam,” wrote Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka on ‘X’. 

Complaints about the manner in which the survey, data from which will be used for the internal reservation matrix, is being carried out come at a time when the exercise is nearing completion. 

However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that people had the option of completing the enumeration exercise online. “In Bengaluru, if people are unwilling to speak about their caste in public because of the stigma attached to it, they can register online,” the CM said. 

‘Implement internal reservation in a month’

Congress leader and former minister H Anjaneya met Justice Nagamohan Das – who is overseeing the statewide survey of SCs – and urged him not to extend the survey any longer.

Pointing out that recruitment in the state had been deferred owing to the delay in the finalisation of the internal reservation matrix, Anjaneya said, “As a result, there are several educated youngsters who aren’t getting jobs. The commission shouldn’t extend the survey beyond July 6. They must immediately submit a report to the government and ensure that internal reservation is implemented by the end of this month.” 

Internal reservation has been a decades-long demand of the Madiga -- a community classified under the ‘SC Left’ category, of which Anjaneya is a prominent leader.