Caste Survey Set To Begin In Telangana, OBC Reservation For Local Body Elections To Be Decided Based On Findings

The Revanth Reddy-led Congress government in Telangana is set to conduct a statewide caste survey, a key promise made in the party's manifesto for the November 2023 assembly elections.

This survey comes nearly 10 years after the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government conducted the Samagra Kutumba Survey, also known as the Integrated Household Survey.

The Congress government’s caste survey, officially named the "Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political, and Caste Survey," will involve over 80,000 enumerators and 10,000 supervisors across the state.

It has been a top priority for the Reddy administration, which assumed office in December last year and passed a resolution to conduct the survey in the assembly in February.

A government order issued on 10 October designated the Planning Department as the nodal agency, instructing it to complete the survey within 60 days.

According to the Telangana government, the survey will help shape future initiatives aimed at improving socio-economic, educational, political, and employment opportunities for Backward Classes (BCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and other disadvantaged groups.

Additionally, the Telangana BC Commission has been tasked with determining the percentage of reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies.

The Reddy government has stated that local body elections will only be held after reservations are granted based on the survey's findings. Telangana BC Commission chairperson G Niranjan reiterated this.

Niranjan explained that each enumerator would visit 10 to 15 households per day, and the data collection process is expected to take around 15 days. Afterward, the gathered information will be compiled.

"Based on the information, the Commission will come to a scientific conclusion about the population of each caste and this will help us recommend a reservation for BCs," he told Indian Express.