For now, Socio-Economic Education Employment, Political Caste Survey 2024, also known as caste census, has been completed but is yet to be submitted to the government.
Published Jan 30, 2025 | 9:33 AM ⚊ Updated Jan 30, 2025 | 4:29 PM
Revanth Reddy at the collectors conference. (X)
It is common knowledge that in a government, work always crawls. However, in Telangana, it is much worse.
The state government is yet to make up its mind when to hold the panchayat elections. At the moment it is hoping to hold them in February, but it may further be delayed as it is yet to finalise reservations for the Backward Class (BC) communities.
For now, Socio-Economic Education Employment, Political Caste Survey 2024, also known as caste census, has been completed but is yet to be submitted to the government.
At a review meeting at the Command Control Centre in Hyderabad on Wednesday, 29 January, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy asked the planning department which has been entrusted with the onerous work of caste census to submit the report to the cabinet sub-committee by 2 February. The officials briefed the chief minister that survey data entry into computers has been completed and a draft report is being prepared.
The caste census is expected to provide inputs on the socio-economic status of BC communities to the dedicated commission constituted by the state government after a direction to this effect by the Telangana High Court. The dedicated commission using the inputs would decide how much should be the hike in reservations for the BCs.
Congress had promised 42 percent reservation for BCs but it is doubtful if it would be able to do it even though the dedicated commission makes a recommendation to this effect as it would breach the 50 percent cap on reservations. Sources said that if 42 percent reservations have to be applied to the BCs, a constitutional amendment might be required.
Meanwhile, there is a lot of pressure on the party to conduct the elections. At the same time the government is unable to make up its mind since it would be disastrous if it goes to elections without enhancement in reservations for BCs as it would amount to reneging on its promise and the BRS is ready to go to town, skinning the Congress alive.
At the review on Wednesday, the Chief Minister was happy that the state was ahead of others in commissioning and completing the caste census.
He said: “The outcome of the caste census will be useful for social empowerment and comprehensive development of all BCs, SCs (Scheduled Castes), STs (Scheduled Tribes), and Minorities. The successful conduct of the survey is in fulfilment of the promise made by the Congress on the eve of the 2023 Assembly elections.”
The state government initiated the caste census on 6 November. The survey was completed in the first week of December in all districts. More than one lakh employees, including enumerators, supervisors and data entry operators, participated in the household survey.
The survey has identified nearly 1.16 crore families in the state. The enumerators conducted door to door survey of each family and recorded the details. The survey teams collected the details of more than 96 percent of the families.
The officials explained to the chief minister that some families had not participated in the survey due to various reasons, including refusal to part with data, locked houses and the absence at their addresses.
The state Cabinet, which met on 4 February last year, approved the proposal to conduct a caste census through a house-to-house family survey. The government adopted a resolution in the Assembly to undertake the survey on 16 February.
The state government constituted a six-member Cabinet sub-committee on 12 September to finalise the necessary procedures for conducting the survey. The sub-committee, headed by Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, met several times and made recommendations.
Revanth Reddy discussed with the members of the cabinet sub-committee the recommendations it had made on 9 October.
The Planning Department was appointed as the Nodal Agency to undertake the survey in the name of socio-economic, education, employment and political caste census and issued a Government Order (GO) (No.18) on 10 October with complete procedures to conduct the survey.
Meanwhile, the elections for gram panchayats are long overdue, as they came under the rule of special officers on 1 February 2024, following the expiry of the elected bodies’ terms.
After conducting panchayat elections, the Congress government will also need to hold elections for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs), Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs), municipalities, and municipal corporations.
The state government has already amended the Panchayati Raj and Municipal Acts, reducing the reservation rotation period from once every 10 years to every five years.
Additionally, it mandated that each mandal must have a minimum of two MPTC seats. In a significant restructuring, the government merged nearly 80 villages into urban local bodies, created 12 new municipalities, and upgraded two municipalities to municipal corporations.
Even though officials seem to be ready for the elections, the ruling class does not appear to be very confident given the aggressive opposition in the BRS and the government’s inability to cover all beneficiaries under its welfare schemes on account of the fund crunch.
The State Election Commission is ready to conduct elections once it gets the green signal. As the Congress is torn on the horns of a dilemma, quiet flows Musi.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
