Can the Social and Educational Survey (caste census) be wound up by April 30 as scheduled?
Doubts are being raised on keeping the deadline considering that various districts are nowhere close to the halfway mark, even as there are just eight days left for the survey and many enumerators said it would be “difficult” to complete enumeration by April 30.
As per the reports compiled by the government on Wednesday, 31 per cent of the total 1.3 crore families have been covered so far. The district with has the lowest number of families enumerated is Bengaluru Urban (peripheral areas of the city excluding BBMP limits) with just 6.17 per cent of the families enumerated, while its rural counterpart has seen a higher coverage with 34.9 of the households covered.
Areas under the BBMP have seen a coverage of 20.91 per cent. Enumerators in Bengaluru particularly said they were having difficulty in getting all the 55 questions answered or found locked houses. Ramanagaram, on the other hand, has seen the highest coverage, with 63.51 per cent of the households enumerated.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who held a review meeting with the all the deputy commissioners on Wednesday, reportedly told them to press the extra 5 per cent reserved enumerators into service.
Many enumerators said they were unsure if they would be able to meet the deadline as they have been assigned more than 125 houses each. “So what I am doing is filling the forms in pencil and asking my wife and children to fill them in pen later. Although we have been advised not to use pencils, I have no option but to do so, if I have to meet the deadline,” an enumerator said.
Digitisation of forms Although over 43.11 lakh houses have been enumerated, records of only 1.93 lakh families have been digitised. Shalini Rajneesh, Principal Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare Department, said directions had been issued to deputy commissioners to recruit manpower for data entry, and digitisation would soon take place in two shifts.
