33 Christian-Linked Sub-Castes Dropped Ahead of Karnataka Survey

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Sept. 21, 2025: A day before the socioeconomic and educational survey begins in Karnataka, the State Backward Classes Commission has dropped 33 sub-castes that carried the prefix or suffix “Christian.”

The inclusion of these sub-castes — such as Lingayat Christian and Vokkaliga Christian — had triggered a major controversy. The commission clarified that the exercise is a socioeconomic and educational survey, not a caste census, as it has often been referred to.

The commission said all preparations for the survey are complete. Household listings have been finalised, and each of the 1.61 lakh survey blocks has been assigned to an enumerator. Each enumerator will cover around 150 households, with data collected through a mobile application to ensure accuracy.

Initially, 148 sub-castes from the Kantaraj Committee report were added to the original list of 1,413, taking the total to 1,561. The commission maintained that it had not added any caste on its own, but incorporated entries based on public feedback and community concerns. However, the 33 contentious sub-castes have now been removed. Citizens whose communities are not on the list may still enter them voluntarily during the survey.

The Siddaramaiah-led government announced the new survey after scrapping the caste census conducted in 2015, which several dominant communities had rejected as unscientific. The ongoing exercise, costing Rs 420 crore, is aimed at compiling reliable data on the state’s social and educational profile.