Hyderabad: The latest Telangana caste survey has run into controversy even before it is made public with opposition parties in the state questioning the count of Backward Classes.
Telangana has carried out two such surveys, one in 2014 under K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) and another in 2024 by the Revanth Reddy-led Congress government, both including enumeration of Backward Classes. The surveys, though a decade apart, are now in question for the huge variance in the caste community-wise proportionate figures.
The exercise was primarily commissioned to assess the socio-economic fabric of the state, on the lines of what Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been actively advocating on a pan-India scale. While the first one was conducted soon after the creation of Telangana, the second was said to be done at Rahul’s behest.
The 2024 survey in November-December was conducted in alignment with Rahul Gandhi’s ‘jitni abadi utna hissedari’ slogan and his promise during the Bharat Jodo Yatra that, if the Congress came to power in Telangana, “the government would conduct a caste survey and ensure political, employment, educational and economic reservations”.
But the full reports of the two surveys—Samagra Kutumba Survey (SKS) 2014 and the Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste Survey (SEEEPC) 2024—were not made public by either the then KCR government or by the incumbent Congress.
Nevertheless, key findings of both vary and politicians and intellectuals are questioning their respective methodologies, execution and accuracy. While the Backward Classes (BC) share, based on the 2014 survey, was pegged at 51 percent, the 2024 survey found it to be 46 percent, and including Muslims among Backward Classes, put it at 56 percent.
Other categories (OCs) or ‘forward castes’ were 21 percent in 2014, but in 2024 their numbers fell drastically to 13.3 percent. Even including the ‘forward castes’ among the Muslims, OC proportion is pegged at 15.79 percent.
While Telangana CM Revanth Reddy announced the broad percentage-wise strengths of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes, Other Categories and minorities, based on the 2024 survey in the assembly Tuesday, the same percentages from the 2014 survey were found in an official document on the exercise put on the state-run, premier administrative training organisation Marri Channa Reddy HRD Institute’s website.
The erstwhile KCR government never officially released its survey report or findings.
Also read: Telangana caste survey result is an opportunity and trap for Rahul Gandhi
‘Drastic variance from 2014 exercise’
On Tuesday, during the discussion on the chief minister’s statement on the survey and caste-wise figures, BJP MLA Payal Shankar, apparently holding figures from the SKS survey overview document and comparing with those presented by the chief minister, questioned the steep decline in the Backward Classes population in Telangana.
“Do you mean to say we shunned the institution of marriage and stopped producing offspring?” asked Shankar in the assembly.
While Revanth and others like Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, and Legislative Affairs Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu questioned the legitimacy and veracity of the 2014 survey, as well as the authenticity of Shankar’s quoted figures, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, or KTR, who was also present in the House, acknowledged the report on the MCRHRDI website and said that the BJP member quoted figures from it.
The document has reportedly been removed from the website, following furor in the assembly Tuesday evening. ThePrint is in possession of the SKS 2014 synopsis.
“Our 2014 survey was carried out professionally, meticulously on a single day, with 3.68 crore people participation,” said KTR, refuting the Congress ministers’ charges.
Quoting figures in the SKS overview report, he said, “BCs were 1.85 crore in the then survey i.e., 51 percent of the population. Adding 10 percent Muslim BCs, the total BC figure was revealed as 61 percent.”
“Look at the drastic variance, compared with the present survey. Even BC community leaders are questioning how their population dropped from 1.85 crore to 1.64 crore now, and how their proportion fell to 46 percent,” said KTR. “The Congress government cut down the BC ratio by five percent and thereby is cutting their throats.”
Meanwhile, a group of Backward Classes leaders Tuesday conducted a roundtable conference to discuss the Congress government’s caste census. The participants, including BRS former minister Srinivas Goud, unanimously rejected the report and tore copies of it.
“There are several glaring discrepancies in the 2024 survey findings, compared to the 2011 census and the 2014 survey. How can it be that the state population expanded by only around two lakhs in 10 years? The 21 percent shown as OCs in 2014 includes all the Muslims not just forward castes, whereas in 2024 figures, 12.56 percent Muslims were divided among BCs and OCs,” former IAS officer and BC Intellectuals Forum convener T. Chiranjeevulu told ThePrint.
“The Revanth government should rectify all these gaps and release the report,” he added.
Both Reddy and his deputy Bhatti Vikramarka in the House dismissed allegations of discrepancies, insisting that their survey was “flawless, (and) conducted most scientifically”.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Taking leaf out of KCR’s book, Revanth holds back Telangana caste census report
