Exclusive: Informed by caste survey, Telangana could provide curated benefits for each sub-caste

The 11-member expert committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge B Sudarshan Reddy submitted a 300-page review of the caste survey report to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the Marri Chennareddy HRD Institute last Saturday.

Deputy Chief Minister (Finance and Planning, Energy) Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu told The Indian Express that the report places an even greater responsibility on the government to assemble community-specific schemes.

“The report provides an insightful understanding of how people of each caste and sub-caste are faring. Their standing socially and economically… whether they have jobs or not or any means of livelihood. Those are not just statistics in the report; they are people. We now know the numerical strength of each community. We need tailor-made solutions to address each community’s issues, down to family units,” Bhatti said.

An official explained, “Based on the numerical strength, we will design not just government schemes and benefits, but provide quotas in education and employment, individual financial assistance, political representation down to Mandal and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies.”

There were a few surprises too in the caste survey report. For instance, the BC population has crossed 56 per cent in the state. On July 11, the state government had passed a Bill providing a 42 per cent quota for BCs in local bodies, and another bill providing a 42 per cent reservation in education and employment opportunities, assuming that the BC population hovered between 55-56 per cent and would cross 56 per cent by the 2028 elections.

The state government sent the two Bills to the President and the Centre for their consent.

As the Telangana government received indications that the President may send back the Bill without approval, Chief Minister Reddy, Deputy CM Bhatti and others rushed to New Delhi to make a powerpoint presentation at the AICC, in a bid to mount pressure.

Another surprise was that at least four per cent of Telangna’s population declared that they have no caste.

According to the finalised data, the state has 1,15,71,457 households and the population surveyed was 3,55,50,759. Of this, the SC population was 61,91,294 (17.42%), the ST population was 37,08,408 (10.43%), the BC population was 2,00,37,668 (56.36%), while other castes were 56,13,389 (15.89%).

CM Reddy said that the social, economic, educational, employment and political caste (SEEPC) survey, conducted by the Telangana government through door-to-door visits and self-certification of the people, is a role model for the country. The government has collected 88 crore pages of data in the survey.