Karnataka to conduct survey on occupation of minorities

In a first, the Karnataka State Minorities Commission is planning to conduct an ‘Occupation Survey’ of the communities in the state to tailor welfare programmes for target beneficiaries and also to evaluate the effectiveness of existing projects.

The commission has been working with the government to figure out the best way to address some of the gaps in the existing schemes. Between 2014-15 and 2018-19, the state government has allocated Rs 7,889 crore for the department. The commission wants to go back to the basics and look for measures to improve the schemes.

As per the 2011 census, there are about 96 lakh members of minority communities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. From school education scholarships to building community halls, the various welfare schemes have focussed on various sectors.

“We have been approaching the community as a whole, which doesn’t lead to much impact. The occupation survey will gather data about education background, job or occupation, familiarity with the existing government schemes as well as the extent they benefitted the individual members,” said Anees Siraj, the secretary of the commission.

He said the commission will take up the survey on a pilot basis in two districts with relatively higher number of minorities. “For example, in a district like Mangaluru, the minorities constitute about 30% of the population. We want to look deeper into these communities. It is not just about collecting information but also getting their opinion on the existing schemes,” he said.

Educationist and NLSIU senior fellow V P Niranjanaradhya, who evaluated various schemes of the department, said there was a general lack of information in the community about the schemes. “The level of awareness about such programmes was very poor and when they were informed, the implementation was not satisfactory,” he said.

He said the fundamental problem was the government’s approach to the schemes and the survey should get the opinion of minority community on such issues. “Instead of introducing schemes as a charity, the government needs to adopt a rights-based approach. Then one can objectively evaluate the schemes and their benefits,” he said, adding that the survey data should help the department to weed out the unnecessary schemes and divert the funds for the upliftment of larger target groups.