Bengaluru, Sept. 22 -- The Karnataka government will on Monday commence the mammoth caste survey to address complaints from several communities who alleged that they were either excluded or underrepresented in the controversial 2015 exercise amid fierce slugfest among political parties and community leaders. According to officials familiar with the matter, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes will conduct the socio-educational survey from September 22 to October 7 at an estimated cost of Rs.420 crore. As part of the exercise, around 175,000 enumerators, mostly government school teachers, will administer a 60-question form to approximately 70 million people across 20 million households in the state. "Our survey will commence from September 22. We have made all the preparations," chairman of the commission, Madhusudan R Naik, said. He added: "Taking note of the possible creation of confusion in the minds of the public, we have resolved that the drop down, which is only for our internal consumption, will not prompt certain castes. But anybody out of his free will can always notify the surveyor that he belongs to such a caste." This is the second socio-educational survey being conducted by the commission, following the first one conducted by the H Kantharaj Commission in 2015. The survey report, submitted by then Backward Classes Commission chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde on February 29, 2024, flagged discrepancies in caste-wise population figures, triggering strong reactions from Karnataka's two dominant caste groups - Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva Lingayats - who termed it "unscientific". The Siddaramaiah-led cabinet announced a new survey in June this year. During the new survey, officials said, each household will be geo-tagged using the electricity metre number, and assigned a unique household ID. Ration cards and Aadhaar details will be linked with mobile numbers, while a helpline and online participation options have also been created. Although the project is widely known as a caste survey, Siddaramaiah has insisted that it is broader in scope. "It is a survey being done to provide equal opportunities to people by collecting not just information about their caste, but also about their economic, social, and educational status," he had said. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, has called it an "anti-people survey" and an attempt to divide Hinduism. "The Congress government is working to divide Hinduism in the name of a caste survey. If it's a socio-educational survey, why mention caste names in it? Under the guidance of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, they are dividing Hindus," Karnataka leader of Opposition R Ashoka told reporters in Bengaluru....