State to conduct fresh caste survey, says CM

Karnataka will conduct a fresh caste survey to address complaints from several communities who alleged that they were either excluded or underrepresented in the controversial 2015 exercise, chief minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday after a meeting with the Congress leadership.

- Arun Dev

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BENGALURU: Karnataka will conduct a fresh caste survey to address complaints from several communities who alleged that they were either excluded or underrepresented in the controversial 2015 exercise, chief minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday after a meeting with the Congress leadership.

The decision was made during a high-level meeting held in New Delhi where Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leader Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah, and deputy CM DK Shivakumar were present, alongside other senior leaders and AICC general secretary KC Venugopal.

"We will conduct a fresh survey. Since the last enumeration was done in 2015-16, there is an opinion that a new enumeration is necessary. Just as we are conducting surveys for scheduled castes, we will carry out another enumeration. It was discussed that this survey should be completed within 90 days," Siddaramaiah said.

The meeting came after weeks of discontent over the findings of the caste survey originally carried out in 2015 at a cost of ₹162 crore during Siddaramaiah's earlier tenure as chief minister. Several ministers, MLAs, and MPs had raised objections, citing that the data did not fully represent the diverse caste composition of the state.