Caste survey sluggish as it resumes without teachers after festival break

The resumption of the Social and Educational Survey being conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes in the State, after Deepavali holidays, was marred by higher absenteeism, especially in Bengaluru. The survey progress in Bengaluru is lagging, where several households have been indifferent.

While teachers formed the backbone of the survey, which started across the State on September 22 and in Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) region on October 4, the resumption of the survey was without them as they returned to schools. The employees and officials of various departments were reassigned the localities/ households on Thursday as the survey commenced.

Many reallocated

In Bengaluru, higher absenteeism among enumerators was reported. Several surveyors were reallocated at the last minute to the South and East corporations of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), where teachers formed the majority, while others did not report for duty. Some of the enumerators could not report to duty since they were travelling, and others were unwilling to take up survey work in new and faraway areas.

“A review meeting has been planned to examine the reasons behind the low participation and to verify the list of those who were reallocated,” a senior official overseeing the survey said.

One of the enumerators, on condition of anonymity, said that several field staff were unwilling to report to work because the new locations were too far. “Many of us were shifted to distant wards at the last minute. The government is neither compensating us for the travel nor reducing our survey hours, which is why people are not turning up for work.” The enumerator also pointed out that many of the households were not interested and uncooperative.

In the North corporation, where teachers formed about 37% of the total 3,327 enumerators, only 1,104 reported for duty on Thursday. In the Central zone, attendance was even poorer — only 449 enumerators showed up by Thursday afternoon, against an assigned strength of 1,529. “While the count of 1,529 included teachers, additional staff were also reallocated to fill the gap. Even after excluding teachers, around 1,200 enumerators were expected to report, but less than half turned up,” a senior official said.

Meanwhile, Ramanagar district, one of the three districts reporting less than 90% progress with 86.16%, the enumeration has crossed the 90% mark with 91.50% progress, according to officials.

Large-scale migration

The lower progress in Bengaluru South (formerly Ramanagara) has been attributed to large scale migration of people to Bengaluru for livelihood. “Many of the homes/ households were not found in the addresses. We do not know if they have been enumerated in Bengaluru. The progress remained slow because of the reason,” said Deputy Director of Backward Classes Department Bilal Mohammed. He said that that taluk-level helplines have been set up, and attempts are being made to contact the households that have been left out.