Make caste census report public: ex-minister

The government has been apathetic towards the caste census by the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, Congress member H M Revanna said in the Council on Wednesday.

During a discussion on the Constitution, he said the caste census, like several other reports commissioned by the state government, was gathering dust. "The government has to release the findings of the census. It appears to have been trashed into the bin. Not taking the report into consideration goes against the principles of social justice," he said.

The then Siddaramaiah government had given the task to the backward classes commission chairperson H Kantharaj to come up with the caste census. In spite of the report having already been submitted to the government, successive governments have not made the findings public yet, he said.

Responding to Revanna's comments, Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol said reservation was being misused by the people. "There are several sub-sects even among the reserved communities. Only the dominant among them are getting the benefit, while several adivasi and tribal communities are still deprived of the benefits," he said.

Even within the backward communities, those who have seen financial mobility find it difficult to accept the lesser privileged from their own communities, Karjol said, giving an instance of how the manual scavengers were looked down upon. "You will notice how there are no marriages happening between the sub-sects,” he said, drawing an example from his own community.

Muzrai Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said, "Even when we implement reservation, it has to reach the least privileged person. The purpose of reservation will not be met if only a section of them has a monopoly over it."