- 5 months ago
Karnataka's Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has confirmed a new caste census will be conducted from September 22nd to October 7th, with a report expected by December.
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00:00Our top story this evening is from Karnataka, where Chief Minister Sidra Maya has confirmed
00:12that he is once again giving the caste census a shot in the state.
00:16From September 22nd to October 7th, this will be when the census will take place.
00:21He said that the report was expected by December.
00:24The Karnataka Chief Minister has been under a whole amount of pressure,
00:27considering that this is one of the promises that the Congress had made in Karnataka.
00:31The previous caste census, of course, was constantly criticised as flawed.
00:36And so this is another attempt, essentially, by the Congress in Karnataka to go ahead with a smooth caste census.
00:43Now, details have been given, including that this will happen with an estimated cost of 420 crore rupees.
00:50And Chief Minister Sidra Maya will be looking to ensure that this time is done without any controversies,
00:55without any question marks, because, mind you, Telangana, another Congress-ruled state,
01:00is already done with the caste census.
01:02And that means double the pressure for Sidra Maya to deliver.
01:05Karnataka Chief Minister Sidra Maya announces a fresh caste census in the state.
01:16The entire exercise would cost the government 420 crore rupees.
01:21This at a time when the state is facing funds crunch, delaying money for several welfare programmes.
01:27The caste survey will be conducted from the 22nd of September to the 7th of October.
01:34And the report will be out by the end of December.
01:37Around 1.85 lakh government teachers will be part of the survey.
01:41The caste census budget of 420 crore rupees includes around 20,000 rupees for every enumerator.
01:48The Chief Minister revealed that 60 questions will be asked during the survey.
01:52A unique ID will be assigned to the houses that are surveyed.
01:55Karnataka Backward Classes Commission Chairman Madhusudhan Nayak claims new survey would adopt more scientific methods and produce accurate figures,
02:22unlike the earlier one which faced criticism.
02:25The current budget estimate for the survey is a 156% increase from the 165.51 crore the government spent on the 2015 Social and Education Survey.
02:36The findings were junked following opposition from various communities, especially the dominant Lingayats and the Vokaligas.
02:43The BJP has slammed Chief Minister Sidramaya's census plan, alleging both financial misuse and political intent, calling it appeasement politics.
02:54State government has got no local standee to conduct a caste survey.
02:58And in spite of all that, if at all they are conducting a survey, it cannot be done within a span of 15 days.
03:09Within fortnight, it is highly imaginable.
03:13The new caste census findings are likely to shape Karnataka's policy in the coming years.
03:18The Karnataka government has announced the caste survey starting from September 22nd and ending at October 7th.
03:27In the 15-day time span, 1.8-like government teachers would knock on everyone's door across Karnataka,
03:33get data on caste and religion and economic and social background.
03:37However, the opposition BJP has slammed the government, saying that there is no need of doing this when the national census would happen.
03:43And also within the 15-day time period, the state government cannot achieve this with accuracy, is what the BJP has said.
03:49Nagar Jundwarkanath, for India Today.
03:53Okay, let me bring in Nagar Jundwarkanath for more details on this.
03:57Nagar Jundwarkanath, what really is the state government planning to bring in as part of this new caste census plan,
04:03you know, in its implementation, in the actual data that it collects, that will counter the criticism that the previous one faced?
04:10Well, what the criticism was back in 2015 to now was the population percentage has increased and Lingaids felt that they were shown in less numbers.
04:21And remember, both dominant, politically dominant communities, Lingaids and Mkuligas,
04:25both felt that if the numbers go down, that would have repercussions in assembly constituencies
04:29and the leadership would be questioned by other communities.
04:32And hence, they didn't want to have the 2015 data.
04:35Now, they have forced or pushed the government also and the high command also to ensure that there is a new set of data.
04:41And both communities have had a set of private meetings with the community leaders to ensure that everyone participates in this caste census
04:49so that people can put out their numbers in terms of the questionnaire as such.
04:5560 questionnaires will be asked of which 1.8 lakh 5 teachers from the government schools will go ahead,
05:02knock on people's door and take data.
05:04The BJP has accused the Congress government of appeasement politics because they think the minority numbers will be inflated here.
05:11And secondly, why waste excess money when national census would happen very soon?
05:16All right, Nagarjan, thanks very much for joining us with those details.
05:19So, as Nagarjan has pointed out, there are questions being asked about what is the need for this kind of census
05:25when there is a national one that's already been announced by the BJP, by the Modi government.
05:30But remember, like I said, there are political compulsions also at play considering that the Telangana government has completed their caste census.
05:37It's something Rahul Gandhi repeatedly refers to.
05:40So, there is pressure within the Congress also for Karnataka to also deliver on that caste census promise.
05:45It's an issue that's rocked both the South and the North, the issue of the caste census.
05:50And I want to get you an excerpt of a conversation that I had with a rather esteemed panel at the India Today Conclave South
05:57on the contentious issue of a national caste census enumeration, how it happened in Telangana,
06:04and if Karnataka is going to follow the same model as that of Telangana.
06:08Ultimately, when we look at a caste enumeration, a caste census, will this ensure social justice?
06:25The fear is also that there's a lot of politicking over this, that this is reserved for politics,
06:30that they do this to gain for certain vote banks, and that it doesn't ultimately lead to social justice,
06:36because we've had these conversations. It's never really led to equality.
06:39You can't have social justice without data.
06:43In 2017, our Prime Minister had initiated a Rohini Commission, Justice Rohini Commission.
06:51For, within the OBCs, we have 27% reservation for OBCs at the national level.
06:58What is the disparity within?
07:00There are 2,633 communities within the OBCs,
07:04out of which 10 communities take away 24.94% of the jobs and employment.
07:13And irony is that you have 983 communities, they don't have even one job, one education, nothing.
07:19They don't have a reservation.
07:21So to offset this, you need a count at the national level, and as a state level is such.
07:27National level count is a macro count, according to me.
07:30But the more important is the state level count.
07:34We need all the state governments to take a count.
07:38And why?
07:39Each state has got its own criteria for Bihar.
07:42They have done a caste census, and in 23, they have finished it.
07:47And they found out that in Bihar, 94 lakh households have a monthly earning of less than 6,000 rupees.
07:57It's just not only for reservation you need a discount.
08:00It is for your other welfare schemes.
08:04Reservation is only part of the affirmative action.
08:06So economic backwardness.
08:07Absolutely, absolutely, to know the economic backwardness.
08:10That's always a concern point that's raised, sir, about whether this kind of enumeration will actually tell you about economic backwardness in some sections of the society.
08:19Telangana has actually done that.
08:20Telangana has actually done that, even today, individual welfarism is not going to work in India.
08:28It is a caste cultural welfarism.
08:32Now that means, all the 242 castes, land is not the basis of development of those castes now.
08:45Education, mobility, and the employment, both in the private and public sector, and more particularly, English medium education has come out as the central, even to the Adivasis, Dalis, OBCs, and upper caste.
09:04Now the caste census of Telangana model is not just counting castes, looking at the socio-economic, educational, and women status.
09:15We have looked at the total women status.
09:18Gender inequality is more striking than even the caste inequality, whether they are Brahmins or Dalis or Adivasis, within the hierarchy.
09:30We put all 342 castes in the ladder, where they exactly suit.
09:37The last point I would make is, as the caste hierarchy exists, untouchability to differentiation within the society, socio-economic, educational, employment, differentiation still exists.
09:51Therefore, the nation has to go for similar model like Telangana, not just to remove inequalities, make Indian democracy really deeper and humanitarian.
10:03In the post-independent India, we have all seen the difference between the pre-independent and post-independent.
10:10We all depended on the Indian state for eradicating the intellectuality, eradicating the caste discrimination, eradicating the backwardness.
10:19It is not possible.
10:20No society could develop without these effective, positive, progressive social movements.
10:27So, in post-independent India, there is lack of such movements.
10:31This is one of the reasons that identity politics is increasing.
10:36Every caste is claiming, is shared, and becoming a stakeholder in a way.
10:42So, there are holes in the people of India.
10:45We are we the people of India.
10:48They want people.
10:49But there are many holes.
10:50The reason is politics.
10:53So, while strengthening the democratic principle, democratic practices, we must agree that social justice should not be, or in a way caste censor should not be,
11:06reappropriated for political gains and political reasons.
11:10And check is the common consciousness of the people.
11:14Once the index of the people grows up, then this can be stopped.
11:18We need more Jaipar Kast Narayan, more Vinoba Bhabe, more M.G. Ranade.
11:23There are more politicians, less social action people.
11:27So, that should be complemented.
11:29I think that is the real solution of the contemporary Indian crisis,
11:35which is centralized on the caste discrimination and caste politics and social justice slogans.
11:42What the caste census is going to do is to measure the moral distribution of assets among various castes,
11:55moral distribution of opportunities, moral distribution of power.
12:00This is something we need to really understand.
12:02That is what caste census is going to measure.
12:05Caste is a reality.
12:07Caste disparities is a reality.
12:10India is one of the most unequal societies on the planet.
12:16We need to understand these inequalities basically stem from the way the caste works.
12:24So, the caste system will tell you how these inequalities are there, how various castes are suffering.
12:32It will give you a whole lot of data for you to plan programs, policies, legislations,
12:39so that there will be equality in the society.
12:42So, we need to really look at caste as a great opportunity for India to move towards equality.
12:50Don't look at it from the narrow perspective of reservations, narrow perspective of politics.
12:56Look at it as a great opportunity India is having to become an equal society.
13:01Okay, let's move on and talk about the big rally everyone's watching out for in poll-bound Tamil Nadu.
13:10Actor turned politician Vijay is all set to kick off his poll campaign from Trichy tomorrow.
13:17It's going to be a campaign that goes on for three months starting tomorrow
13:21where every week he's going to cover a different area, different constituency.
13:25Now, the TVK chief Vijay just before that rally has issued a detailed statement
13:30over why he is going with this campaign.
13:33And largely in this speech that he's in fact a statement essentially that he's put out on social media,
13:38he's largely lashed out at the DMK government first saying that they tried to restrict his rally
13:44and saying that they failed to fulfill their own promises.
13:47Now, he's referred to the conditions. Remember, there are 20 plus conditions on his event.
13:51So, he's referred to these as unfair restrictions on his rally.
13:55But has maintained that when he comes down to it, when he's on the ground tomorrow in Trichy,
14:01people's love will make his rally a huge success.
14:03What you see on your screens right now are some of those conditions that have been put forth.
14:07The only way he's been granted permission for his rally in Trichy tomorrow
14:11is that Vijay will not be allowed to have more than five vehicles as part of the convoy.
14:16No crackers will be burst. Definitely not the norm for any other political rally
14:21because you see crackers being used all the time.
14:23Elderly people, children are all banned from being part of this particular rally.
14:29There should be no traffic jams that are caused in public places as a result of his campaign.
14:35Cast, religious sentiments should not be heard.
14:37Some of these, of course, are restrictions that are mentioned for every rally.
14:41Not really followed. We'll have to see if there's a crackdown in this particular case.
14:45Let's bring in Pramod Madhu from Chennai with more details on this story.
14:49Pramod, we're counting down to that rally in Trichy.
14:52What are the preps looking like?
14:53You know, we've been seeing massive events taking place as far as Vijay is concerned for the last many months.
14:59There have been two big, big rallies.
15:01This one, however, we understand is a little different.
15:03He's looking at smaller crowds, smaller pockets that he's targeting.
15:07Well, it is, Akshita. Just like you mentioned, Vijay has surely proved that he is a crowd puller.
15:13And Trichy is definitely going to see a lot of likes of people as per the TVK netas.
15:18And that's the reason this has turned out to be a very big issue.
15:20Because right now, Vijay's team very clearly mentions that they decided to go ahead with a weekend campaign
15:26just to make sure that the public will not have any kind of interest, which itself was made fun by other parties claiming that Vijay is nothing,
15:32no one but a weekend politician. But just like you mentioned, 25 restrictions have been provided.
15:37And normally the police claim all these restrictions are provided to all the people, like politicians who want to conduct campaigns.
15:43Of course, most of them are definitely not followed at all.
15:45But Vijay has also sent a letter to his carers claiming that please stick to all the Kamkar.
15:50Even though so many, you know, rules have been imposed, please stick to them for the safety of the public and the carers as well.
15:57Tomorrow, around 10.30 a.m., he is expected to speak at Trichy Marakade.
16:02Also, Vijay, in the former Madhuri campaign also, he claimed that as a response to the politicians who are asking why Vijay is not coming every day,
16:09he said that his lion will only come just for hunting, and that seems to be his tagline, Akshita.
16:15He keeps referring to himself as a lion, perhaps also because of his film, Leo.
16:21But that's something, of course, we'll have to see tomorrow, 10.30 in his rally,
16:24where he makes a mention again of this lion analogy that he's repeatedly using.
16:28Thanks, Pramod, for those details. We will track the latest on that rally.
16:31But let's also get you an image of the kind of excitement, really, for Vijay's rally.
16:38There's a fan, and this is, in fact, a video that's emerged of the fan expressing his love in a unique way.
16:44A die-hard supporter of Vijay has created this portrait of Vijay, not with brushes,
16:50but by actually kissing the canvas nearly 2,000 times.
16:53What you see on your screens is just an indication and a symbol, really,
16:58of the kind of love there is for Vijay.
17:01The question is whether all of this will actually translate into votes.
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