Telangana constitutes independent panel to study caste survey data
Hyderabad, March 7 (IANS) The Telangana government on Friday constituted an independent advisory committee of sociologists to thoroughly study the data of the recently conducted caste survey in the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that an independent committee comprising sociologists and intellectuals has been constituted to analyse socio, educational, economic, employment, political and caste survey.
He said the sociologists and intellectuals should study the survey data in detail, leaving no scope for even a small error.
The Deputy Chief Minister held a meeting with committee members at the State Secretariat on Friday.
Former High Court judge Justice Sudershan Reddy will head the committee. Retired professor Kancha Ilaiah has been appointed as Vice-Chairman while Praveen Chakravarty will act as convenor.
The committee members are Sukhdev Thorat, retired professor Purshottam Reddy, Shantha Sinha, Professor Himanshu, and Professor Bhukya Bhangya. Social scientist and activist Jean Dreze will be a special invitee.
The Deputy Chief Minister asked the committee to submit its report within a month to the Planning Department.
He mentioned that the caste survey was conducted under the guidance of the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The state government, under the leadership of Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, conducted the survey with the aim to initiate measures for social justice.
He said to avoid any discrepancy and to leave no room for any doubts, a committee has been constituted with eminent intellectuals to conduct an independent analysis of the caste survey report.
The comprehensive door-to-door household survey covered 3,54,77,554 people and 1,12,15,134 families for 50 days during November-December 2024.
On February 4, the government placed the findings of the survey in the Assembly. It said that 96.9 percent of the households in the state were covered. About 16 lakh people (3.1 percent) opted out due to various reasons.
Following the questions raised by the opposition parties over the accuracy of the data, the government decided to conduct another round of survey last month to cover people who could not participate in the survey earlier.
Those who could not participate in the survey for various reasons were asked to share their details with the enumerators.
The opposition questioned the decline in the population of Backward Classes from 61 per cent (including Muslim Backward Classes) as revealed in the integrated household survey conducted in 2014 to 56.33 per cent in the caste survey conducted in November-December 2024.
The caste survey report revealed that the Backward Classes account for 56.33 per cent of the state’s population, of whom 10.08 per cent are Backward Class Muslims.
According to the survey report, 17.43 per cent of the population are Scheduled Castes (SCs), 10.45 per cent Scheduled Tribes (STs), and 12.56 per cent Muslims, of which 2.48 per cent are Other Caste (OC) Muslims. The OCs make up 13.31 per cent of the total population.
Source: IANS
