Kodava community urged to record religion and caste as 'Kodava' in upcoming census

MADIKERI: Ahead of the caste census from September 22, the Akhila Kodava Samaja President Paradanda Subramani Kaverappa has urged the Kodava community members to record their religion and caste as “Kodava”.He has asked the community members to cooperate by providing their information clearly and without any mistakes when the enumerators visit their homes.After Independence, unseen hands conspired to change the religion of the Kodava community members to Hindu, which is a blow to the Kodavas. It is high time to rectify this, he stated in a release.The Kodava community members have preserved their unique cultural traditions.

Kodavas have preserved and cultivated a rational and reverent nature, customs, rituals, language, and dress, he stated.Kaverappa asked the state govt to make appropriate changes in the design of the census application/software, keeping in mind the demand of the Kodava community.The President of the Kodava Samaja Federation, Kallichanda Vishnu Cariappa, and the Secretary, Vaterira Shankari Poovaiah, have also requested the community to cooperate in this regard. They stated, “This will be considered an official document in the future. Due to some confusion and omissions so far, injustice has been done to the Kodava tribal community. To correct this, it should be mentioned as Kodava in the caste and religion column.

The community should understand this and cooperate to make good use of it," they stated.