Hyderabad: The Telangana Government is gearing up to conduct a mega caste census in the State.
The newly nominated 4-member BC Commission headed by G Niranjan has begun the exercise the day after taking charge and steps are being taken to complete it as soon as possible after a whirlwind tour of the State.
Interestingly, the much-touted Samagra Kutumba Survey (SKS) report conducted in 2014 by former Chief Minister and BRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao has been dumped.
Sources said that the SKS report has become infructuous since it was not implemented within three months of submission, hence the fresh survey.
It is learnt the SKS cost the exchequer Rs 33.94 crore besides expenditure for maintenance of database.
“SKS is of no use now. The report is with the Planning Department. It has become redundant since it was not implemented within 3 months of preparation of the report,” sources said.
Samagra Kutumba Survey conducted on a single day on August 19, 2014, soon after the new TRS government was sworn in created a stir among the people and forced them to stay at home for the whole day to ensure they do not miss the survey and lose government benefits.
Some of those staying abroad air dashed to Hyderabad and rushed to their native places not to miss the survey, which was one of the most hyped events in the State’s history.
Nearly 4 lakh government employees including police were utilised to collect details of the households.
Though the SKS report was not made public by the then Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, it revealed BCs were the largest group in the State at 51 percent.
The findings were not made public due to various court cases against it, but KCR used the same to devise schemes and identify beneficiaries for welfare schemes implemented by the State government since 2014. It also came in handy for political purposes.
Rahul Gandhi insists on caste census
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has been speaking on caste census across the country, particularly in Congress-ruled States. Taking a cue, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy announced it to be undertaken here.
Telangana assembly unanimously adopted a resolution recently for a comprehensive household caste survey to provide socio-economic, educational, employment, and political opportunities to Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and weaker sections of the State.
The caste survey was among the guarantees promised by the ruling Congress in the run-up to the assembly elections last year. With this, Telangana will become the third state to hold such a headcount after Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Backward Classes Minister Ponnam Prabhakar moved the resolution for caste census and the assembly adopted it after a debate.
“This is an unforgettable day for the weaker sections. The caste census is under the purview of the central government but we are conducting the caste enumeration given the conditions in the states.
Through this survey, it is expected that justice will be done to SCs, STs, BCs (backward classes), and other weaker sections in the state,” he said.
He reminded the assembly that the Telangana cabinet had, on February 4, approved the decision to conduct a comprehensive household caste enumeration family survey.
HC directive for BC census
Meanwhile, the Telangana High Court has also directed the State government to conduct a Backward Classes caste census within three months and submit a report to the court.
HC order has come after a writ petition was filed by Backward Classes Welfare Association President Satyanarayana.
Bihar was the first State in independent India to successfully enumerate all castes and it found that OBCs comprise 63.13 percent of the state, SCs 19.65 percent, STs 1.68 percent, and upper castes 15.52 percent of the population.
Subsequently, the Bihar government hiked reservations to 75 percent in government jobs and education. Cases have been filed against the survey in the Supreme Court.
On January 19, the Andhra Pradesh government also began an exercise to create a database of people belonging to various castes.
The caste census is aimed at determining the proportion of the population of various castes, the number of welfare schemes needed for each caste, updating the reservation quotas for SCs, STs, BCs, and Minorities, and having data on population for political decisions in the future.
