E-Paper
Andhra Pradesh government to complete caste survey by February 15
There would be door-to-door enumeration of people by village secretariat employees in villages and ward secretariat employees in urban areas, with the help of other designated enumerators between January 19 and 28
Hyderabad: The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government in Andhra Pradesh will complete its caste survey, aimed at enumerating various castes and sub-castes in the state and tailor the welfare schemes, by February 15, ahead of the upcoming elections to the state assembly and Lok Sabha, according to a government order (GO)
The Andhra Pradesh cabinet had on November 3 last year approved a comprehensive caste-based census.
A government order to this effect was issued on Tuesday (January 9) by principal secretary (planning) M Girija Shankar, announcing the schedule for conducting the caste survey.
The caste survey would capture details on socio-economic, educational, and employment aspects of all sections and categories of the people to support the state government in better policy formulation and implementation of the schemes, read the order. The enumerators would collect facial, iris and other details of the people for the e-KYC registration, it said.
According to the order, there would be door-to-door enumeration of people by village secretariat employees in villages and ward secretariat employees in urban areas, with the help of other designated enumerators between January 19 and 28.
The final caste survey report will be prepared at the gram ward secretariat level by February 15, the principal secretary said.
The government has directed district collectors to issue instructions to the concerned departments and hold a meeting with the stakeholders.
“All the district collectors in the state are requested to issue instructions to all district and mandal/municipality officers concerned to adhere to the above-revised schedule and guidelines issued by the government from time to time for the successful conduct of caste survey in the state,” read the order.
“People who will not be available in their houses during enumeration and are unable to participate in the door-to-door exercise will have an opportunity to register their caste information at village and ward secretariats from January 29 to February 2, 2024,” the order said.
“The findings will enhance our data-driven governance and help in targeted delivery of the state’s poverty alleviation and other schemes”, an official of the planning department said.
The state government had already launched a pilot project on caste survey on November 15, 2023, to assess the numbers of castes and sub-castes in the state, to ensure effective delivery of its welfare schemes
The secretariat staff and enumerators have been given training, which came to an end on Thursday and the mapping of enumerators, staff, and supervisors with the villages and wards would be completed by Friday, it said.
In November 2021, the Andhra Pradesh government urged the Centre to conduct a caste survey alongside the 2021 Census, although it did not materialise at that time.
