The Congress government in Telangana on Friday moved a resolution in the state assembly to conduct a caste survey in the state.
The exercise, ‘The Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste Survey’, on the back of a similar initiative by the party in neighbouring Karnataka, will be undertaken as per the decision of the Council of Ministers on February 4.
“…To implement various Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment and Political opportunities for the amelioration of Backward Classes, SC and ST citizens of the state and other weaker sections of the state,” reads the resolution.
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has already asked the state’s Backward Classes Welfare Department, the nodal agency for the survey, to send teams to Bihar and Karnataka, where caste surveys have been completed, to study their practices.
The government aims to fast-track the survey to fulfil the Congress’s election promise of extending caste-based reservations to the backward and marginalised sections proportional to their population in education, employment and welfare schemes within six months of coming to power, officials said.
The Congress party’s manifesto in Telangana also promised a hike in reservations for Backward Classes from the present 29 per cent, including the 4 per cent reservation for Muslims under the ‘E’ group of the list of backward castes. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also promised a caste survey in the state during his election campaigns late last year.
There are 128 castes among the Backward Classes in Telangana constituting a little over 50 per cent of the state’s population.
The Backward Classes had distanced themselves from the Congress and moved closer to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) before Telangana was carved out of united Andhra Pradesh in 2014.
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Published: 16 Feb 2024, 04:08 PM IST