After Karnataka, Telangana gets ready for caste census

Hyderabad:

Telangana will become the second Congress-ruled state after Karnataka to conduct the caste census – the process will continue from November 6 to November 30. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has also ordered the formation of a Backward Caste Commission following High Court orders. Those who wanted the new commission to ensure quota for them in local body elections.

On November 5, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will be in Telangana to attend an event on caste census. It is expected that Mr. Gandhi will meet unions, student organizations and intellectuals to seek their views on this matter.

The previous panel on backward castes was based on a 1993 law and was empowered to collect data only on education and employment quotas. Sources said that this time the socio-economic profile of all castes will be collected in the census.

Sources said 48,000 teachers will be deployed for the survey, for which primary schools will function only half a day this month.

They will collect data by conducting door-to-door surveys. This will include social, education, employment, economic and political data. Government employees will put stickers on the doors. It will have 85,000 enumerators and supervisors.

Caste census was one of the major election promises made by the Congress.

At that time, Mr Reddy, who was leading the Congress campaign, had said in an open letter that only caste census would ensure justice for the backward classes.