Asserting that the Congress’s poll promise has been fulfilled within a year, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy tabled a statement on the caste survey report in the state’s Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. As per the survey, Backward Classes account for 56.33% of Telangana’s population.
Speaking in the Assembly, Reddy said there was a demand from historically marginalised Backward Classes that “they should be enumerated”. “For any policy to come into effect, there should be data to support it. The data from the caste survey will be used to bring socio-political changes in the state,” Reddy said.
“This is a historical moment in Telangana.” Reddy said, adding that the data can be used for giving benefits to the Backward Classes in politics, education and employment.
The last caste census across India was conducted in 1931, he said. “Seventy-five years of Indian independence, no one had tried to enumerate the Backward Classes. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promised to enumerate different castes during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. We have fulfilled that promise.”
Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the survey would work “as a roadmap for their development”.
The Opposition BRS and BJP meanwhile demanded a “recount” of the Backward Classes (BCs), stating the community’s number has “reduced” in the Congress census. The two parties further asked the government to implement 42% reservation for BCs in local body polls.
Ever since the caste survey report came out, a key contention of the opposition in Telangana – Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – has been that the Backward Class population is “undercounted”. The two parties have been claiming that the BC population, including Muslim BCs, should have been over 60% in the state.
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Telangana’s BC rights activist R Krishnaiah raised the same objection to the survey. “The percentage of BCs alone, excluding Muslims, should have been over 50%,” Krishnaiah told The Indian Express.
Speaking in the Assembly, BRS leader Talasani Srinivas Yadav said that BCs have been “undercounted if you go by the comparative figures of the census 2011”. “According to their survey, the population of BCs has reduced and the population of OCs (Other Castes) has increased going by the 2011 Census,” Yadav said.
BJP MLA Payal Sankar said, “The Congress government has wronged the BCs in the state by reducing the numbers of Hindu BCs.”
Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, who headed the Cabinet sub-committee on caste survey, condemned the opposition statements and said, “No BJP-ruled state has enumerated the Backward Classes. There is no reduction in the numbers. We have done the exercise in a scientific way.”
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Backward Classes account for 56.33% of Telangana’s population, according to data from the state’s Socio-economic, Educational, Employment, Political, and Caste survey report, Reddy said.
Scheduled Castes (SC) account for 17.43% of the population, and Scheduled Tribes (ST) account for 10.45%, according to the survey. Other Castes (OC) make up 15.79% of the population.
In absolute numbers, the population of Backward Classes (BC) in the state is 1,99,85,767, including 35,76,588 BC Muslims. The SC population is 61,84,319, and the ST population is 37,05,929. The OC population is 44,21,115. As per the survey, the state’s population is 3.7 crore.
