Caste survey redux in Karnataka

Karnataka will hold its second socio-economic survey from Monday (September 22, 2025). The Congress government set aside the report of the first survey, conducted in 2015, as well as the recommendations based on it and submitted in 2024. The second survey, to be conducted over a fortnight by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, is being held amid a sea of objections raised by the BJP as well as some land-owning, politically dominant, and numerically strong communities.

The Commission has compiled a tentative list of 1,400 castes. This has opened a Pandora’s Box. The BJP has attacked the Siddaramaiah government for attempting to “divide Hindus”. The BJP and some caste groups have opposed the inclusion of Christian sub-castes (identified for the first time during the earlier survey based on how people named themselves) that included nomenclatures such as Vokkaliga-Christian, Brahmana-Christian, and Lingayat Christian.

To the embarrassment of the State government, these nomenclatures have been opposed by Cabinet Ministers representing the dominant communities as well. Leaders of castes cutting across party lines fear that these “new castes” will bring down their population figures.