Telangana pushes for nationwide socio-economic, caste survey

Assembly adopts resolution calling upon Centre to emulate Telangana model on caste survey
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy addresses the special one-day session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly after a Cabinet meeting that discussed the comprehensive caste survey report, in Hyderabad on Tuesday
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy addresses the special one-day session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly after a Cabinet meeting that discussed the comprehensive caste survey report, in Hyderabad on Tuesday(photo | Express)
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HYDERABAD: The state Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution calling upon the Union government to follow the Telangana model and conduct a “socio-economic, educational, employment, political and caste survey” to understand the dynamics of various castes.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy also announced that February 4 would be observed as “Telangana Social Justice Day” as it was on this day last year that the Cabinet gave its approval to the proposal to conduct a social, economic, educational, employment, political and caste survey (comprehensive household survey) and introduce the survey report in the Assembly.

Earlier in the day, the Assembly was adjourned following a statement by Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu that the Cabinet was discussing the matters listed in the agenda.

Later, when the House resumed at 2 pm, the chief minister made a statement on the ‘Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste Survey.’

“The Telangana government conducted a comprehensive door-to-door household survey. Through this survey, the government has brought to light the socio-economic, education, employment and political aspects of various castes. The Telangana government is committed to the development of Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other marginalised communities. The Telangana government is committed to lowering the inequalities among various communities by bringing proactive and affirmative policies. It is ideal that the Telangana government implemented a decision that had been awaited since the country’s independence. To understand the dynamics of various castes, this House passes a resolution requesting the Central government to conduct a comprehensive door-to-door household socio-economic, education, employment, political and caste survey,” the resolution, which was read out by the chief minister, said.

However, the government did not table the caste survey report, citing privacy concerns under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

The BRS and BJP opposed the survey report, pointing out its shortcomings. Their members underlined that the number of BCs has dwindled in the latest report when compared to the comprehensive household survey conducted in 2014 by the BRS regime.

Expressing his objections, BRS MLA KT Rama Rao said, “The difference between the KCR-led government and the Congress government is that the number of families that participated in the comprehensive household survey was 1.03 crore while the total number of people is 3.68 crore. The number of BCs was stated to be 51% and Muslims 10%. A Congress MLC has even called for the burning of this report.”

The CM countered Rama Rao, stating that the people who didn’t participate in the survey do not have the moral right to speak.

Survey mentions different BCs, court of law may quash it: BJP

Explaining the reasons for conducting the caste survey, he said that there was no official data available on caste compositions, and this was leading to difficulties in implementing reservations. He noted that the state government introduced the survey findings in the Assembly to give legal sanctity to it.

Asserting that a Constitutional amendment was required to enhance BC reservations to 42%, the chief minister stated that the Congress was ready to set aside 42% of the tickets in the coming local body elections for BCs. He challenged the Opposition parties BRS and BJP to allocate the same percentage of seats to BCs. Later, BJP MLA Payal Shankar claimed that the caste survey report mentioned Hindu BCs and Muslim BCs. He said that the Court of Law may quash the entire survey based on this point, as there wouldn’t be Muslim BCs.

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