
Hyderabad: State minister for panchayat raj and rural development Dansari Anasuya, popularly known as Seethakka responded to fellow Congress member Chinthapandu Naveen alias Teenmaar Mallanna burning of the Telangana caste census survey saying any issues or concerns should be dealt internally.
“If you are a member of Congress, you should align with its policies. If you have any concerns or issues, it’s important to schedule a meeting to discuss them,” Seethakka said while talking to reporters on Wednesday, February 5.
Soon after the Telangana caste census survey was tabled in the assembly the previous day, Congress MLC Mallanna claimed that Congress had insulted the people of Telangana.
In his protest, he burnt a copy of the comprehensive socio-economic, political, caste, education and employment survey and alleged that the survey data was manipulated to protect the reservations of economically weaker sections (EWS) while bringing down the reservation of the backward classes (BC).
“This is a conspiracy to show that the population of other castes (OC) has increased from 8 to 15%, while the BCs have come down from 60 to 46%. I told Uttam Kumar Reddy when he released the data that it won’t be useful in any way. I though the statement tabled in the council and assembly today would have more information, but they have repeated the same thing,” Naveen said.
56.25 percent of Telangana’s population is Backward Class
The findings of the Telangana caste survey revealed an astonishing 56.25 percent (1,99,85,767 people) of the state’s population belongs to the Backward Class.
The Telangana caste survey covered 96.9 households across the state and surveyed 3,54,77,554 individuals.
According to the survey, the Scheduled Castes (SCs) comprise 17.43 percent (61,84,319) and Scheduled Tribes of 10.45 per cent (37,05,929) of Telangana’s population.
Moreover, the caste survey revealed 44,57,012 belonged to the Muslim community in Telangana, constituting 12.56 percent of the total population. Among them, 35,76,588 belong to the Backward Class (BC) amounting to 10.08 percent while 2.48 percent are Other Castes (OC) with 8,80,424 individuals.
The Telangana caste survey is expected to be a significant step towards data-driven governance and forming welfare policies based on real-time socio-economic data.