Telangana State Legislative Assembly.
| Photo Credit: File photo
HYDERABAD
The Telangana Assembly on Tuesday passed the Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Bill, 2025 for sub-categorising the 59 communities among SCs into three groups for availing the 15% reservation with the support of members from Congress, BRS, BJP, MIM and CPI.
Before the Bill was passed with a voice vote, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy thanked all parties for supporting the bill. He explained the process starting from the State government’s announcement to implement the SC reservations on the day the Supreme Court had given its judgement in favour of the sub-categorisation till the introduction of the Bill on Tuesday.
The Justice Shameem Akhtar Commission, which went into the issue of sub-categorisation, had received 8,681 representations from the stakeholders and based on the empirical data the Commission had recommended grouping 59 sub-castes into three groups with reservation of 1% for Group-I (15 sub-castes), 9% for Group-II (18) and 5% for Group-III (26 sub-castes).
On some members’ suggestion, he stated that the SC reservation would be enhanced proportionately based on the 2026 Census data and also announced extending Rajiv Yuva Vikasam scheme to families whose members lost their lives as part of the SC sub-categorisation movement.
Earlier, Minister for Health C. Damodar Rajanarasimha said the Bill was aimed at bringing social justice among the SC communities and it won’t discriminate against any community within SCs. Member A. Laxman Rao, G. Vivek, K. Srihari, K. Manik Rao, P. Shankar, Md. Majod Hussain, K. Sambasiva Rao, V. Veeresham, V. Prashanth Reddy, K.R. Nagaraju, T. Laxmikanth Rao, M. Samuel, K. Satyanarayana and K. Yadaiah spoke on the Bill.
During participation in the debate, Mr. Srihari wanted implementation of the sub-categorisation in Central services, ₹100 crore corpus fund for entrepreneurs, 18% quota for SCs in contracts worth up to ₹10 crore, nominated posts and budgetary allocation. He complimented the government for not accepting the creamy layer recommendation made by the Shameem Akhtar Commission.
Mr. Majid Hussain felt that instead of 2011 Census data, the recent community survey data should have been taken for the sub-categorisation. He also wanted to rework the 59 communities into four Groups. Mr. Sambasiva Rao requested the government to lift the Aarogyasri limit for SCs.
Published – March 18, 2025 08:36 PM is
