Survey of Scheduled Castes: Lack of awareness poses challenge for enumerators
Bengaluru: Field workers conducting caste-based enumeration of Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Bengaluru say they are facing massive challenges, spending three minutes at non-SC households and up to half-an-hour at SC households.
The bigger challenge, though, has been technical difficulties with the survey's mobile application and the weather since rain has been pounding the city over the past couple of weeks.
The survey, overseen by the
Justice HN Nagamohan Das committee
, is to allocate internal reservation for SCs but enumerators say citizens don't know why the survey is being conducted and that they spend considerable time explaining its necessity, especially in apartment complexes where lack of communication by associations is rampant.
Confirming this, an apartment dweller in Yelahanka zone said that his apartment association circulated a notice informing residents that BBMP officials were conducting a caste census and requested their cooperation. "We were not aware that it was a caste-wise enumeration of SCs," he said. "BBMP officials and the apartment association should inform people about the specific intention of the survey."
Enumerators, largely teachers from govt schools, say many people refused to participate in the survey with some, especially from the non-SC community, even abusing them.
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Another enumerator pointed out that she found several houses locked between 8.30am and 6.30pm, the time she was supposed to survey residents.
"Working couples leave home before we reach them and return only after 6.30pm after our day's work is done," she said. "We have attempted two or three times to reach out to such families but were unable to survey them. They can use the third phase, an online self-declaration option, to participate in the survey."
Justice Das admitted that the survey had initially faced hurdles. "There was a lack of competent teachers who could collect this data," Justice Das said. "The commission held a meeting with BBMP chief commissioner and zonal commissioners last week. It was decided to deploy anganwadi workers and accredited social health activists (ASHA workers) who are graduates to collect data. After appointing more enumerators, the survey is on in full swing.
"
Justice Das said, in Bengaluru, 55,027 SC families have been surveyed while enumerators also met 13 lakh non-SC families until Thursday (May 15).
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