Daijiworld Media Network-Bengaluru (RJP)

Bengaluru, Apr 13: For the past two days various reports have been appearing in the media regarding caste census report of the state. Some reports have even given the breakup of castes in the state.

Some reports say that Scheduled Caste with 180 sub-castes and with a population of 1.08 crore constitute 18 % of the state population and the biggest group among all castes. Muslims with 84 sub-castes and 75 lac population constitute 12.5% of the total population. Lingayats, Vokkaligas Kurubas follow with 9.8%, 8.16%and 7.1% respectively. Schedule Tribes (7%) and Brahmins stand (2.1 %) come after that in the list. The total population of the state is 6 crore as per this ‘survey.’

But some other media put the Lingayats Vokkaligas after Schedule Castes without mentioning Muslims. Why so? The reason is simple. All these reports are not exact copies of the original report. Most of these reports are simple speculations based on previous surveys.

State Vokkaliga Sangha has already objected to its figure of 49 lacs in the ‘survey’ by saying “The total number of Vokkaliga population in the state is 1 crore. If any survey puts the figure at 49 lacs, then the survey itself has flaws. We want a news survey.” The Sangha says that the State Assembly has more than 40 legislators from its community and it would not have been possible to get such a big number from a smaller population.

Home minister Dr G Parameshwar on Tuesday said that whatever the number of Dalits, it should not be used for the sake of vote bank. He has asked the Dalits to be extra careful as political parties are expected to use them. He opined that Dalits should not be mistreated by any group no matter what is their number.

Meanwhile social welfare minister H Anjaneya has said that the caste survey has not been made public at all. “I myself am not aware about these figures. Government does not have any plan to get benefits from this type of propaganda. We were planning to publish the data in a website, but as the software was not ready, we could not do so. There was also some objection to this. We are planning to table the report in May. The report in no way has been leaked. All these reports are speculations by some people. We have done a model work in the country in the state caste survey. The whole nation is admiring us. Do not believe in these fake reports.”

Only real figures from the real survey will reveal the facts.