AMID PRIVACY CONCERNS AND MISGIVINGS, RWAS REMAIN DIVIDED ON SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL SURVEY

Even as the Social and Educational Survey continues across the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) limits, several resident welfare associations (RWAs) remain divided over participation. While some have agreed to cooperate, others are refusing over what they call “privacy concerns” and suspicion about the “purpose of the exercise”.

- ► KALIDAS NEWDELHI

Several RWAs have objected to the nature of questions being asked, calling them “intrusive” and beyond the scope of a caste survey.

“The government is collecting personal details about assets and family background in the name of social mapping. If this is a caste survey, we should be asked only about one thing — our caste. The rest of everything is unnecessary,” argued a representative of the Venkateshwara Nagar RWA, unmindful of the stated purpose of the survey being measuring social and educational backwardness.

Some others worry about the survey’s implications for welfare schemes and that the data could be “misused for political or economic targeting”.