2015 Karnataka caste survey responses ‘disappear’ from Haveri tahsildar’s office

HAVERI: While the original socio-economic and education survey report is missing, even records of responses from the 2015 survey have reportedly disappeared in Haveri district.
This data, signed by members of families and individuals who were surveyed, was stored at the tahsildar's office and later consolidated by the backwards classes department (BCM) in collaboration with revenue, education, and other departments.
This developments comes amid a mystery surrounding the disappearance of the original socio-economic and education survey report, popularly known as the caste census, prepared by the Kantharaj Commission.
It has triggered a fierce political row, with opposition parties BJP and JD(S) — now allies — criticising the Siddaramaiah govt for basing crucial policy decisions on a revised report drawn from sample data.
Officials say significant portions of these documents, including front and back sections, cannot be located. They suggest the delay in consolidating data and inadequate storage contributed to "deterioration and disappearance of records".
Officials say these individual records remained untouched for about 14 months without being processed. During this period, numerous responses disappeared from taluk offices.
"While collating the responses, we found social and economic data of several families were missing. We informed higher authorities at the time, but they did not tell us how to proceed," said an official of the backward classes department.
Asked about it, VS Hiremath, district officer, BCM Haveri, said he didn't have decision-making authority then and cannot recall precisely what happened eight years ago, adding, "I am not the right person to comment on it now."
BJP has flayed the govt over the missing report, with former Haveri district president Siddaraj Kalkoti, saying: "Our stand is clear; the report should be junked since the original report is missing. Now, we find primary data is missing. The govt should fix these allegations before accepting the report."