A CASTE ENCORE

Karnataka orders a new caste survey this year, junking the report based on the 2015 numbers

- Ajay Sukumaran

IT HAS BEEN full of twists, real and imagined. Caution had filled the April air as the Siddaramaiah regime dusted off Karnataka's 2015 caste survey report. Tense cabinet meets ensued, amid a feared backlash from the Lingayat-Vokkaliga caste duopoly. Meanwhile, a googly came from the Centre: on April 30, after years of holding out, it relented on including a national caste count in the 2026 census. The Congress claimed credit for forcing the U-turn, but soon made one of its own. Karnataka effectively junked the 2015 report. Instead, between September 22 and October 7, some 165,000 enumerators will fan out with handheld devices for a de novo sorting of the state's 70-odd million.