Karnataka Caste Survey: Why Siddaramaiah’s 10-Year Delay Sparks Controversy

Bangalore University students stage a protest on campus, demanding that the Karnataka government implement the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey report, in Bengaluru on January 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Backward Classes leaders of Karnataka have demanded that the findings of the Karnataka Socio-economic and Educational Survey conducted in the State be released. Meeting them on February 18 as part of pre-budget discussions ahead of the presentation of the Karnataka Budget on March 7, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told them: “There should be no doubt that the [findings of] caste census will be revealed.” But this is a promise that’s been unfulfilled for 10 long years.

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The comprehensive house-to-house educational survey that recorded the caste of the respondents was conducted in 2015 during Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure as Chief Minister. Since coming back to power two years ago, he has been restating his government’s commitment to disclosing the survey findings. In fact, it was an electoral promise made by the Congress during the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, which the party won by a landslide. But—and this is where critics question Siddaramaiah’s intentions—the Chief Minister has not made any move to disclose the data, nearly halfway into his term.

In mid-January, it seemed like the Cabinet would finally take a decision. The matter was even listed for discussion but it disappeared from the agenda a day before the meeting. Statements from the Chief Minister’s office and comments made by senior ministers after this mysterious omission merely reiterated the banal assurance that the government is committed to releasing the caste survey report. However, no time frame was given.

The government has been dithering over releasing the data because politicians—including senior leaders of the Congress—and community leaders belonging to the socially and politically dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities vociferously oppose it.

Accurate population numbers of the various castes have not been publicly available for nearly 100 years now, as the last census that recorded caste was conducted in 1931. While the Lingayats and Vokkaligas are perceived to be numerically strong in Karnataka, their actual numbers—according to data leaked from the caste survey—turn out to be much lower.

In early January, a Kannada newspaper accessed the caste survey report, revealing that the Lingayats and Vokkaligas constituted only 10.3 per cent and 9.5 per cent respectively of the State’s population (as per the 2011 census) which is markedly less than the numbers bandied about by leaders of those communities. Hence, any attempt at tweaking welfare and policy measures in the interest of social justice for other backward communities will affect these two communities which are currently the beneficiaries.

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A proverb in Kannada goes: Bisi thuppa: ugulokagadu, nungokagadu (It is hot ghee, I can’t spit it out, I can’t swallow). It aptly describes Siddaramaiah’s dilemma about the caste survey. While the Congress’ national leadership led by Rahul Gandhi has been demanding that a nationwide caste survey must take place, Siddaramaiah continues to hold back the report in Karnataka. His counterpart in Telangana, Revanth Reddy, who promised a similar exercise in that State, conducted and released the broad findings of the survey within three months (between November 2024 and February 2025). Notably, Reddy did not present detailed caste-wise numbers but provided a breakup that divulged the numbers of Backward Classes and other castes in Telangana. According to sources, the Karnataka government may follow suit.