The H. Kantharaj commission that conducted the socioeconomic and educational survey in 2015 identified 1,351 castes and subclasses of Karnataka at the time of the survey. However, sources from the Commission said that when the survey was completed, it had the 1.821 list.
By explaining the increase, the sources said that these new castes were one of those that had emigrated to Karnataka from other states. “There has been a column to mark new castes to the enumerators. The new castes have been identified here and many of them could belong to back classes in their states.”
Some names included Solanki, Sood, Punjabi Jat, etc. Interestingly, many identified by their language or state, such as hate, Malayalam, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Nepali and others.
There were also 398 caste names that could not be identified specifically. These constitute 3,750 people from 965 households, forming 0.006% of the population surveyed.
How many minorities?
Around 91 Lakh of people of the 5.98 million rupees (15.19% covered by the survey) belong to minority communities, in which Muslims and their 101 subcamenses form most of 76.99 Lakh or approximately 12.87% of 15.37 Lakh of homes.
The Christians and their 57 sub -sects are the second largest minority group with a population or 9.47 Lakh of approximately 2.4 Lakh of households. They form 1.58% of the total population. The scheduled castes converted into Christians are approximately 12,865 or 0.022% of the population of 3,012 households. Angloindians are formed around 0.002% of the population with 1,079 people from 315 homes.
The Jainists and their six subcontractive castes have approximately 4.19 LAKH of approximately 93,700 homes that form 0.701% of the population surveyed.
There are 10,050 Buddhists of 2,106 homes in the state, forming 0.017% of the population. The PARSI community has 762 people from 210 homes that form 0.001% of the population. The lowest religious number among the minority group is neo Buddhists with a population of 250 people in approximately 71 homes.
Published – April 16, 2025 03:34 am ist