The “Silicon Couples” — urban, affluent, English-educated, technologically empowered elites — despite their access to information and awareness of constitutional obligations, deliberately avoid participation, offering rationalisations and specious arguments. In doing so, they may not violate the law, but they demonstrate a moral failure: the absence of constitutional morality and a disregard for the collective pursuit of social justice.
Published Oct 16, 2025 | 2:00 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 16, 2025 | 6:10 PM
NR Narayana Murthy and his wife Sudha Murty refused to participate in the survey.
Synopsis: Infosys Founder NR Narayana Murthy and his philanthropist-author wife Sudha Murty have refused to participate in the Karnataka government’s ongoing Social and Educational Survey. Reports said the couple told enumerators, assigned by the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, that they “don’t want the survey conducted at our home” since they did not belong to any backward community, and hence, their participation would not help the government. Karnataka has already clarified that participating in the survey is not mandatory. Against this backdrop, Bengaluru-based activist and columnist Shivasundar writes an open letter.
Dear ‘Simple’ Sudha and ‘Miracle’ Murthy,
Your refusal to participate in the social survey is not surprising.
But to understand the persistence of social inequality, one must comprehend both the condition of the backward classes and the privileges of the forward classes. The reality of social backwardness cannot be grasped without simultaneously examining the structural advantages that enable the dominance of the forward sections. Therefore, the pursuit of social justice necessitates a comprehensive sociological survey encompassing the entire population.
In 1994, a nine-judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of India directed all state governments to undertake a decadal social survey aimed at identifying socially and educationally backward classes. Crucially, the court emphasised that such identification must arise from a survey covering the entire populace, rather than being restricted to selected sections. Yet, successive governments have implemented this directive only partially and without conviction.
The Karnataka High Court, referencing the celebrated Indra Sawhney vs. Union of India (WP(C) 930/1990) — commonly known as the Mandal Judgement — reaffirmed that an assessment of the backward classes necessitates a statewide social status survey of all citizens. The Supreme Court, in this judgement, clarified:
“Neither the Constitution nor the law prescribes the procedure or method of identification of backward classes. Nor is it possible or advisable for the Court to lay down any such procedure or method. It must be left to the authority appointed to identify. It can adopt such method or procedure as it thinks convenient, and so long as its survey covers the entire populace, no objection can be taken to it.” (Indra Sawhney Case, Para 859(b)
The court further stated:
“There is no recognized or prescribed methodology for identification. The ultimate idea is to survey the entire populace.” (Para 782).
Through these observations, the Constitutional Bench unequivocally affirmed that the identification of backward classes must emerge from an inclusive, population-wide survey.
Consequently, the realisation of social justice — a foundational constitutional goal — requires that every citizen participate in such a survey. Participation, in this sense, is not merely administrative but represents a form of civic responsibility and constitutional morality.
However, despite recognising these principles, the Karnataka High Court recently ruled that a census and a survey are distinct processes, and that there exists no statutory obligation compelling citizens to participate in a survey. Hence, participation was rendered voluntary rather than mandatory.
Nevertheless, the court did not suggest that responsible citizens should abstain from participation. On the contrary, it underscored that participation of all social groups is both necessary and desirable, while leaving the final choice to individual citizens.
Against this legal backdrop, casteist forces within both the BJP and the Congress have allegedly distorted the Court’s position and misrepresented the purpose of the survey, thereby obstructing efforts toward social justice.
Upper-caste citizens who, lacking civic consciousness or misled by misinformation, refuse to participate, thereby align themselves—directly or indirectly—with anti-constitutional, Brahminical forces.
Yet, these “Silicon Couples” — urban, affluent, English-educated, technologically empowered elites, despite their access to information and awareness of constitutional obligations, they deliberately avoid participation, offering rationalisations and specious arguments. In doing so, they may not violate the law, but they demonstrate a moral failure: the absence of constitutional morality and a disregard for the collective pursuit of social justice.
Thus, “Silicon Couples” epitomise the hypocrisy of the Indian elites and the deeply entrenched casteism, veiled in modernity and rationality but fundamentally complicit in sustaining historical inequities. Their inaction is, therefore, a betrayal of constitutional morality.
– Shivasundar.
(Views are personal. Edited by Majnu Babu).
