The Congress Government in Karnataka has decided to conduct a caste census to identify the socio-economic conditions of the entire population of the State. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah feels such a census would also help prepare an authentic data of the population.
Reacting to a question in the ongoing Assembly session on Friday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he prefers a census conducted to understand the economic conditions of the population.
Answering a question by Congress MlA Shivananda Patil, the Chief Minister said no such caste census had been carried out by Independent India after the Britishers had conducted it in 1931.
Siddaramaiah said that when he was the Finance Minister in 2004 he had suggested to take up a caste survey and had even earmarked `23 crore for this purpose but the successive Governments did not give much attention to it.
“The economic condition of each and every people belonging to SC/ST, Backward Class, Hindu, Muslim, Christian and others will be undertaken. People belonging to the poor class exist in all castes. It will help to know where we stand and take up programmes for economic development,” he added.
YSV Dutta of the JD(S), who was speaking on the Budget, welcomed the CM’s decision and said the work should be taken up at the earliest.