BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Wednesday deferred by a month its plan to accept the controversial caste census report amid reports of deep divisions within the governing Congress, stiff opposition by dominant communities, including by deputy CM DK Shivakumar, and a part of the surveys document going missing.Chief minister Siddaramaiah announced that the tenures of the chairperson and members of the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission will be extended until the report of the Socio-Economic and Education Survey, popularly known as caste census, is submitted to the government.Commission chairperson Jayaprakash Hegde, whose tenure ends on November 26, was supposed to submit the report by November 24.
Hegde has requested more time to complete the report.
So, we gave him an extension, Siddaramaiah said, a day after he posted on X stating his stand on accepting the report is resolute.Karnataka CM's son Yathindra Siddaramaiah embroiled in controversy over viral video; JD(S) and BJP target SiddaramaiahHegde clarified that only the worksheets, and not the original report, are missing.
He added that the numerical break-up of different castes is intact.
The worksheets pertaining to the methodology adopted and indicators used by the previous chairperson to decipher the census data would have helped us finalise the report speedily.
Since the data is safe, we will prepare a fresh report based on the same data, he said.The postponement comes in the wake of stiff opposition to the caste census report by major caste groups of Lingayats and Vokkaligas, which have dubbed the report unscientific.
What put Siddaramaiah in a spot is Shivakumar being a signatory to a memorandum submitted to him by Vokkaliga community leaders requesting to reject the caste census report along with the data.
Yes, Ive signed it.
Having a caste census is my partys stand.
Im bound by it.
At the same time, my community (Vokkaliga) has some concerns and apprehensions about the census, Shivakumar said.