The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Backward classes panel to appeal to EC on poll dates

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Monday, Dec 31, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Backward classes panel to appeal to EC on poll dates

Bageshree S.

Commission to undertake caste census in April

Bangalore: The Karnataka Permanent Backward Classes Commission will be appealing to the Election Commission to ensure that the dates of Assembly elections and the caste census scheduled for April do not clash.

Chairman of the Permanent Backward Classes Commission C.S. Dwarakanath told The Hindu that the commission was making preparations for the mammoth exercise involving a survey of 1.18 crore households across the State. A pilot survey would be held in January using simputers to check for logistical problems. “Most importantly, teachers will be available as enumerators for the survey only during vacation. So we cannot afford to postpone it beyond April,” he said.

The survey will involve one lakh enumerators. Of them, 58,000 are teachers. The rest will be postgraduate students of Sociology, Political Science and Social Work. They will be allowed to submit their work on the census as project reports. The commission has held talks with university registrars in this regard. The census is being conducted in the State after 77 years. Such a survey was last held by the British authorities in 1931. Karnataka is the first State to take up such a survey since then. Budget allocation was made for the census in 2005 by the State (Rs. 2 crore) and the Centre (Rs. 22.5 crore). But the proposal has not been implemented. The caste-based census is seen as an important exercise to provide a scientific basis for determining backwardness, which will be measured on 60 social and educational parameters.

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