BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Congress leaders and BC associations representatives at a meeting in the Secretariat
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
As the Backward Classes organisations pointed out certain lapses in the Telangana Socio, Caste, Economic, Employment and Political Survey, the Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar tried to shatter the myth by engaging prominent BC leaders and organisations.
The Minister elicited the opinions of the BC leaders in view of certain apprehensions and ‘misleading campaign’ by the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said their concerns would be taken to the Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to address them.
He reminded the leaders that this was a historic occasion as Telangana was the only State that had taken up the survey to profile the social, economic, educational, employment, political and caste statuses.
The meeting attended by BC leaders like R. Krishnaiah, Vakulabharanam Krishnamohan Rao, former IAS officer Chiranjeevulu and Congress leaders – Suresh Shetkar, MP; Veerapalli Shankar, MLA; former MPs K. Keshava Rao, Madhu Yashki and Anjan Kumar Yadav apart from BC Commission Chairman, G. Niranjan, among others.
“No other State in the country has even thought of it and instead of appreciating this historic work of the government the opposition is trying to mislead,” the Minister told The Hindu. “One needs a lot of conviction and the desire to ensure social justice and under the guidance of Rahul Gandhi, the Telangana government completed this never-done exercise in Independent India,” he said.
The meeting saw the BC leaders expressing their opinions on several issues including the reported reduction in the BC population. The Minister informed them that since the BC Commission did not have enough infrastructure to complete the exercise of such massive scale the survey was conducted by the Planning Department.
Some of the suggestions included conducting a special drive to collect the details of the families that could not participate in the survey due to various factors. It is said that the participation was less in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) area while the response in the rural areas was massive.
Former Chairman of the BC Commission, Vakulabharanam Krishnamohan Rao told The Hindu that the meeting gave assurance that the lapses would be covered and welcomed the government’s move to take them into confidence. This will clear the doubts and instills confidence, he said while appreciating the effort.
Mr. Ponnam Prabhakar said everyone appreciated the government’s commitment and that whatever suggestions came up at the meeting would be taken to the Chief Minister for discussion.
Published – February 09, 2025 01:07 pm IST
