Mine is a very unfortunate case. My father and mother both are illiterates. They never went to school and have no school records. They and their parents too are illiterates and all hail from the state of Karnataka. I do not know how and for what purpose, my father has obtained a caste certificate (SC AK) in 1973 from District Authorities. From the time I knew about this world, whenever I was questioned about the name of my caste, I had been saying it is SC AK, (Schedule Caste, Adi Karnataka) and throughout my schooling I always obtained a caste certificate as such. In my elder sister’s 1st standard admission record, it is mentioned SC, AK. She studied hard and obtained a state government job as a librarian.
I sacrificed a lot of my happiness, worked hard and was successful in passing one state government competitive examination and was selected for a SSLC-level post in state government. I was called by the District Social Welfare Department to produce my 1st standard admission record supporting my claim of SC AK. Hence, I went to my school nearly after 32 years the caste was entered in the record. I was shocked and terrified to see that it was entered as H.A.D. (which meant Hindu Adi Dravida) and below that it was written also “Tigala” and in the column for mother tongue it was written as “Kannada.” According to this, as per my thinking, I belong to three castes at a time. Firstly, H.A.D. means a caste that comes under SC, but the person belongs to Tamil Nadu. Secondly, from my mother tongue, I belong to an Adi Karnataka caste. Thirdly, as per being written as “Tigala”, I belong to another caste of OBC. But in my SSLC TC it is only mentioned “SC” and no AK or AD is mentioned. Now, my claim for government job was rejected and candidature cancelled. This had been a doomsday for me. It was not a passing of IAS examination, so quite consoling for me. Only thing is want to know if I can make necessary correction to any one of the castes. I have only my sister’s document to state I belong to SC AK, but no other documents to say I am a H.A.D. or Tigala caste. Hence, I request for your advice.
