<p>The Social and Educational Survey, launched in Karnataka with much anticipation, encountered trouble on its very first day. Enumerators across the state faced technical glitches, administrative hurdles, and training gaps. Apps refused to download, servers crashed, OTPs never arrived, and in many districts, the process could not even begin. These are not minor hiccups; they point to poor planning and inadequate preparation for a massive exercise meant to cover two crore households with the help of nearly two lakh enumerators. </p><p>A survey of this magnitude cannot be reduced to a hurried exercise. The government should have conducted extensive pilot testing of its app and systems across urban and rural geographies before rollout. Equally critical was the training of enumerators, many of them schoolteachers, who were left confused on day one. For a project expected to cost over Rs 400 crore, the least the state could ensure was a smoother start.</p>.Caste survey: It's a census cloaked as survey, Centre tells Karnataka High Court.<p>But technology is only part of the problem. There is also a deep public misunderstanding about the survey itself. Despite repeated clarifications, many believe it is a ‘caste census’. Caste is only one by-product of the larger objective: identifying the social and educational backwardness of communities, and evaluating whether state benefits have reached them. Yet, misinformation thrives. </p><p>Some Lingayat leaders have advised their community members to register their religion as ‘others’. In Kodagu, confusion lingers over whether people should mark themselves as Kodavas or Hindus. Such misgivings persist even after the Backward Classes Commission chairman Madhusudhan Naik made it clear that religion will not be considered as a factor.</p>.<p>The government must accept responsibility for failing to communicate the purpose of the survey effectively. Educating MLAs and local leaders should have been the first step. Instead, political interests and competing narratives have created a fertile ground for distortion. A mass media campaign and direct community outreach are urgently needed to dispel rumours. </p><p>The stakes are high. Upper caste groups, who opposed the Jayaprakash Hegde report, are once again waiting for an excuse to derail this survey. Their resistance is not incidental: it is rooted in retaining their social dominance and political hegemony. The government cannot afford to hand them easy victories at the cost of the state’s marginalised communities. Having already spent enormous sums, it must extend the survey deadline, allow time for corrections, and conduct the exercise scientifically. </p><p>This survey is not about prestige but about justice. Karnataka owes its backward communities credible data that can guide equitable state policy. For that to happen, the government must pause, correct course, and proceed with clarity and courage.</p>
<p>The Social and Educational Survey, launched in Karnataka with much anticipation, encountered trouble on its very first day. Enumerators across the state faced technical glitches, administrative hurdles, and training gaps. Apps refused to download, servers crashed, OTPs never arrived, and in many districts, the process could not even begin. These are not minor hiccups; they point to poor planning and inadequate preparation for a massive exercise meant to cover two crore households with the help of nearly two lakh enumerators. </p><p>A survey of this magnitude cannot be reduced to a hurried exercise. The government should have conducted extensive pilot testing of its app and systems across urban and rural geographies before rollout. Equally critical was the training of enumerators, many of them schoolteachers, who were left confused on day one. For a project expected to cost over Rs 400 crore, the least the state could ensure was a smoother start.</p>.Caste survey: It's a census cloaked as survey, Centre tells Karnataka High Court.<p>But technology is only part of the problem. There is also a deep public misunderstanding about the survey itself. Despite repeated clarifications, many believe it is a ‘caste census’. Caste is only one by-product of the larger objective: identifying the social and educational backwardness of communities, and evaluating whether state benefits have reached them. Yet, misinformation thrives. </p><p>Some Lingayat leaders have advised their community members to register their religion as ‘others’. In Kodagu, confusion lingers over whether people should mark themselves as Kodavas or Hindus. Such misgivings persist even after the Backward Classes Commission chairman Madhusudhan Naik made it clear that religion will not be considered as a factor.</p>.<p>The government must accept responsibility for failing to communicate the purpose of the survey effectively. Educating MLAs and local leaders should have been the first step. Instead, political interests and competing narratives have created a fertile ground for distortion. A mass media campaign and direct community outreach are urgently needed to dispel rumours. </p><p>The stakes are high. Upper caste groups, who opposed the Jayaprakash Hegde report, are once again waiting for an excuse to derail this survey. Their resistance is not incidental: it is rooted in retaining their social dominance and political hegemony. The government cannot afford to hand them easy victories at the cost of the state’s marginalised communities. Having already spent enormous sums, it must extend the survey deadline, allow time for corrections, and conduct the exercise scientifically. </p><p>This survey is not about prestige but about justice. Karnataka owes its backward communities credible data that can guide equitable state policy. For that to happen, the government must pause, correct course, and proceed with clarity and courage.</p>
