As Rahul Gandhi picks Telangana over Bihar for caste count, how the two surveys measure up

Rahul gave the example of the Telangana caste survey, saying that it has become a “model for the caste census” which could be “emulated” by the Centre. “That could be the blueprint… design is very important. Because there are two examples – Bihar and Telangana. They are completely different,” he said, describing the Telangana survey as “detailed and granular” and undertaken through an “open process”.

The Indian Express spoke to the caste survey officials in both the states to find the differences and similarities between the two surveys.

Differences

While Bihar caste survey officials had asked just 17 questions to those surveyed, Telangana officials asked people 57 main questions and 18 sub-questions.

A survey official in Bihar said, “The questions were comprehensive but were less in number so that the process does not turn bulky.”

Sandeep Singh Sultania, who headed the caste survey as secretary to the Department of Planning in Telangana, explained Telangana’s approach, saying, “We asked detailed questions when it came to caste. For example, we asked people (belonging to historically marginalised communities) whether they faced discrimination over entering places of religious worship.”

While the Bihar survey data was entered by enumerators in the field directly into a government-run mobile app called BIJAGA (Bihar Jaati Adharit Ganana), the Telangana data was first collected through pen-and-paper questionnaire.

Sultania said, “We had data entry operators enter the data collected from pen-and-paper questionnaire into (a data entry) software. This was then analysed using the software.”

Similarities

There were similarities, too. In both surveys, officials did not ask for proof of caste. The castes recorded in the surveys were as reported by respondents.

“We believe self-identification of castes worked in our case because the data collected was in line with the existing enumeration figures for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs),” said Sultania, adding that the Backward Class (BC) figures, too, were in line with the assessment of Telangana Backward Class Welfare department.

A Bihar enumeration official said, “There was no way by which people misreported their caste as caste is a fundamental identification parameter. Even if someone misreported, there would be others who would correct them in the case of caste.”

In both surveys, the respondents were asked about their economic status, including material possessions. In both states, they were asked how much they earned per month and whether they owned vehicles and other consumer goods.

“This data was voluntarily collected. There could have been some mismatch as people thought they would get benefits from the government if they show lower income status,” the Bihar official said.

In Telangana, too, such worries were so common that officials said, “People could have misreported the number of consumer goods because they expected the government to step in and improve their quality of life.”

Congress, RJD tension

As the Opposition INDIA bloc parties vie with each other to take credit for the Centre’s decision to go for caste enumeration in the upcoming Census, Rahul’s statement comparing the Telangana and Bihar surveys has not gone down well with the Congress’s senior Bihar ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which was a key player in the then Mahagathbandhan government led by Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar in 2022-23, when the Bihar survey was conducted and its data published.

While Rahul’s remark was a veiled criticism of the Bihar survey, other Congress leaders called the state’s survey “bogus”. The Congress’s Lok Sabha whip and Tamil Nadu MP Manickam Tagore alleged, “The Bihar caste survey was a bogus one. Nitish Kumar cheated the people of Bihar.”

Several RJD leaders told The Indian Express that the Congress could have “avoided negative remarks” about the Bihar survey. “If the Congress wants to praise their government’s survey in Telangana, they are free to do it. But why pull Bihar down when we have been talking about it in our campaign for the upcoming state Assembly polls? And when the two parties have to contest the polls together,” an RJD leader said.

On Rahul’s statement, the RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said, “I do not agree (with Rahul). I have seen the Bihar survey results. He (Rahul) could have (made those comments) because it is his government (in Telangana) and he was instrumental in making it happen. But (RJD leader) Tejashwi Yadav personally monitored the survey (in Bihar) and it is as scientific and valuable as what Mr Gandhi thinks the survey in Telangana is… These are just talking points in the media. On the ground, it has no traction. The only thing that will matter on the ground is how the data for the caste survey is collected and how we go from there.”

Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader in Bihar, Shakeel Ahmad Khan, however, played down the remarks made by the Congress leaders. “We are not questioning the intentions behind the survey. But it did lack detailing and even some NDA allies have raised concerns about it. We are raising questions to the JD(U) when we say that the implementation of programmes based on findings of the survey didn’t happen,” Khan told The Indian Express.

The previous Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, which had the JD(U), RJD and Congress as allies, released the findings of its statewide caste survey in October 2023, which showed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) together constituted more than 63% of Bihar’s population.

However, due to legal challenges, the implementation of the Bihar government’s move to hike the quota for government jobs and educational institutions to 65% based on the survey’s findings could not be implemented. Less than four months after the announcement of the survey results, in January 2024 Nitish quit the Mahagathbandhan and returned to the NDA fold to head its government ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.