E-Paper
T’gana caste survey most scientific and accurate, says govt
State irrigation and civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that this was the first-ever field-based caste survey undertaken after the 2011 Census
The Telangana government on Wednesday claimed that the caste-based socio-economic survey conducted in Telangana was the most scientific, transparent and accurate population study since Independence.
State irrigation and civil supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, who made a powerpoint presentation for the MLAs and MLCs in the state assembly hall, told the reporters this was the first-ever field-based caste survey undertaken after the 2011 Census, making all figures cited by opposition parties false and fictitious.
Reddy, who headed the cabinet sub-committee for the caste survey, said the state government had ensured the highest level of accuracy in data collection. “No authentic caste-based data had been compiled in the past, particularly for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Unlike previous studies, which were incomplete or unofficial, this was the first legitimate and detailed caste survey,” he said.
The findings will help shape welfare policies by assessing the socio-economic conditions of different communities. He assured that the data was reliable and free from political influence, as government staff had carried out the entire exercise.
The minister rejected claims that similar surveys had been conducted earlier, pointing out that the Intensive Household Survey (IHS) 2014 was never made public by the previous BRS government and that even the KCR government did not endorse it as official data.
He strongly condemned the opposition leaders for falsely claiming that the OBC population percentage has decreased. “When no genuine study was conducted on the OBC population, which figures are the opposition parties using to compare the existing numbers?” he asked.
Reddy clarified that the BC population percentage, which was recorded at 51.09% during the BRS regime, has now risen to 56.33%. Similarly, the Scheduled Tribes (ST) population percentage increased from 9.8% to 10.45%, while the Other Castes (OCs) population percentage decreased from 21.55% to 15.79%.
Speaker Gadam Prasad Kumar, council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy, ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Uttam Kumar Reddy, chief whip Aadi Srinivas, MP Mallu Ravi, along with MLCs and MLAs, attended the PPT presentation on the methodology and process adopted for the survey.
