Ongoing survey is not a caste census, says Backward Classes Commission member

“Some people are describing the ongoing social and educational survey as caste census. That is wrong. We should all use the right term to describe the survey,” Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission member C.M. Kundagol has said.

“The survey being conducted as per the guidelines of the commission is being promoted as a caste census. But it is not a caste census; it is a comprehensive social and educational survey,” he clarified during a meeting with officials organised to review the progress of survey work.

He said that some technical issues were found to be causing inconvenience at the beginning of the survey. “Some complaints have been received regarding technical difficulties while people registered in the sub-caste column. All of them have been rectified now,” he said.

Dr. Kundagol discussed various issues with the officials and enumerators during the meeting.

Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Rahul Shinde brought to the notice of the commission members that people are hesitating to provide financial information during the survey.

Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission member C.M. Kundagol chairing a meeting of officials to review the progress of work under the ongoing social and educational sruvey in Belagavi.
| Photo Credit:
P.K. BADIGER

District in-charge Secretary Vipul Bansal also shared his feedback that he received from some enumerators.

“Some personnel on duty said that the public is not providing adequate information on some issues due to the misconception that they will be deprived of government facilities,” he said.

“Therefore, the survey should be completed by informing them about the intention behind it that it is a comprehensive exercise to understand the social and educational status of various communities and groups and not individual assessment,” Mr. Bansal said.

Belagavi City Municipal Corporation has begun issuing self-declaration forms to households to collect data for the survey. The method is getting a good response. Already, responses to over 1,000 forms have been received in the city in two days, Municipal Commissioner B. Shubha said.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan said that enumerators are facing problems due to the hilly terrain in some areas in Khanapur taluk. “But still our enumerators are going to every house and conducting the survey,” he said.

He appealed to the commission to provide some incentives to personnel and people when organising survey camps for non-reachable areas.

District Backward Classes Welfare Department Officer M. Harsha said that a special survey camp will be organised for the 16,711 families in areas affected by network and other technical problems in the district.

There are 11,85,888 families in Belagavi district. As many as 10,200 surveyors are conducting the survey work across the district. He said that 30.55% of the survey has been completed in the district.

Mr. Harsha said that the survey work will be further accelerated with the provision of 500 additional staff. He said that 36 enumerators have completed the survey in less than two days.

Dr. Kundagol felicitated the enumerators who have completed 100% of their survey duties.

One of them shared his experience and said that he was able to complete it as he did not face any technical problem.

Probationary Officer Abhinav Jain, Additional Deputy Commissioner Vijayakumar Honakeri, Joint Director of Agriculture H.D. Kolekar, DDPI Lilavati Hiremath, Health and Family Welfare Officer Ishwar Gadadi, Deputy Director of Women and Child Development Department Chetan Kumar and district-level officials of various departments were present.