Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah met Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and his wife Sudha Murthy on Friday reacted to the decision of not participating in the caste survey being conducted by the state government. The couple had argued that they did not belong to any backward class, due to which they refused to participate in the survey.
On this, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that it is wrong to consider this survey as a survey only of backward classes. He asked, ‘The Central Government will also conduct caste census in the coming days, will they not cooperate even then? They may have wrong information.
Siddaramaiah’s comments came a day after Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murthy reportedly refused to participate in the Social and Educational Survey of Karnataka (also known as the Caste Survey).
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Actually, Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission had issued a proforma for the survey. According to PTI, Rajya Sabha member Sudha Murthy signed a self-declaration form and refused to fill the details in it.
Sudha Murthy is said to have said in her self-declaration letter written in Kannada, ‘We do not belong to any backward community. Therefore, we will not participate in the survey conducted by the government for such groups.
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Siddaramaiah clarified that this survey includes all the people of Karnataka, including the upper castes. He alleged that wrong information was being spread about the survey. According to ANI, the Chief Minister said, ‘The population of the state is about 7 crore and this is an economic, educational and social survey of these people.’
The Chief Minister is not the only person who has opposed the move on the statues. Earlier, Backward Class Welfare Minister Shivraj Tangdagi had also expressed criticism on this.