Telangana's Caste Survey: BCs Emerge as Dominant Group with 56% Population

Hyderabad- The Telangana government is set to present its comprehensive caste survey findings in the Assembly on February 4, following Cabinet approval. The survey reveals that Backward Classes constitute 56.33 percent of the state's population, including 10.08 percent BC Muslims.

The Assembly is expected to follow the presentation with a resolution requesting the central government to amend the Constitution to surpass the Supreme Court's 50 percent reservation limit.

The detailed household survey, which reached over 3.54 crore people across 1.12 crore families, provides a thorough breakdown of the state's demographic composition.

It shows that Scheduled Castes make up 17.43 percent, Scheduled Tribes 10.45 percent, and Muslims 12.56 percent of the population, with Other Castes representing 13.31 percent. The survey achieved a 96.9 percent coverage rate, with about 16 lakh people opting out for various reasons.

Led by Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, the survey positions Telangana as the third state after Bihar and Karnataka to conduct such a comprehensive caste census.

The initiative, aligned with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's principle of "rights proportionate to population," involved nearly 95,000 enumerators and 9,600 supervisors. The data collection effort, completed in 50 days and digitized within 36 days, fulfills a key Congress campaign promise from the 2023 election manifesto, marking exactly one year since the Assembly's initial resolution to conduct the survey.