RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM / VIJAYAWADA : Caste census will be taken up in Andhra Pradesh from January 19, said BC Welfare Minister CH Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna at Dowleswaram in Rajamahendravaram on Thursday.
While interacting with fishermen, the minister said caste census will help in identifying the most backward classes and give them the needed uplift.
Stating that the census is being conducted after 92 years, he said foolproof arrangements have been made to ensure that data is collected accurately through a door-to-door survey with the help of village/ward secretariat staff and volunteers.
Venugopala Krishna explained that the caste census will help identify sub-castes among the Backward Classes (BCs) who are lagging behind so that the government can further roll out schemes for their development.
The caste census will be conducted across the State for 10 days from January 19 to 28. For five days following the survey, from January 29 to February 2, people can walk into the village/ward secretariats to submit data in case their houses were not covered or they were not available during the caste survey. Until February 15, the Village and Ward Secretariat Department will carry out works related to reconciliation and data validation/verification and finalization of data.
The State government had planned to take up the survey on November 21 last year.
Every household to be informed about survey
However, the survey was deferred twice after that for unspecified reasons. On January 9, Principal Secretary (Planning) M Girija Shankar had issued orders with a revised schedule for collecting caste based data relating to socio-economic conditions. On January 10, meetings were conducted at the mandal and municipal corporation level, following which, training sessions were conducted on January 11. Simultaneously, mapping of enumerators, supervisors with secretariat staff, including reserve staff, was done. Orders were issued to the field functionaries regarding their deputation to work in the caste survey.
Speaking to TNIE, Girija Shankar said every household will be informed in advance about the survey, and e-KYC will be collected by the enumerator based on the Aadhar card of the respective family head. “Only after OTP is generated, the virtual household data sheet will be created and information pertaining to socio-economic and cultural aspects will be included. The survey would last about 5-10 minutes and will be carried out in every village for next 10 days,” he explained and added that care will be taken to ensure there are no duplications and no one is left out of the exercise. No caste certificate will be issued based on the exercise, Girija Shankar added.