Hyderabad: In a significant development, the Telangana government said it completed its comprehensive caste survey within a year and is set to present the report before the state Cabinet and Assembly on February 4, State's Irrigation and Civil Supplies Minister, N Uttam Kumar Reddy, said on Sunday.
According to officials, the state government conducted the largest-ever Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political, and Caste (SEEEPC) survey, covering 96.9 per cent of households in just 50 days.
From passing a resolution in the Cabinet to submitting the final report, the entire process was completed within exactly one year.
The Cabinet Sub-Committee, chaired by Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, formally received the survey reports from the Planning Department, which spearheaded the massive data collection exercise.
The minister hailed it as a historic initiative and a revolutionary step in achieving social justice, emphasising that the findings will guide policy decisions to uplift the Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other marginalised communities.
Addressing a press conference, Uttam Kumar Reddy recalled that on February 4, 2024, the Telangana Cabinet approved the survey, and now, exactly one year later, the report stands as a milestone in governance and policymaking.
Uttam Kumar Reddy described it as a "historic day" for social justice in Telangana and announced that the reports would be presented before the Cabinet on February 4 at 10 AM, followed by a short discussion in the Assembly on the same day.
This marked a significant step towards data-driven governance, fulfilling a major promise made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections.
The Congress government, led by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka have now laid the foundation for welfare policies based on real-time socio-economic data.
At a high-level meeting, Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, D Seethakka, Ponnam Prabhakar, and Damodar Raja Narasimha received the survey reports from Principal Secretary (Planning) Sandeep Kumar Sultania, State Nodal Officer and Hyderabad Collector Anudeep Durishetty, and other senior officials. The Planning Department made a detailed PowerPoint presentation on the methodology and findings.
This comprehensive survey, the largest post-independence, covered 96.9 per cent of Telangana households with the help of 94,863 enumerators and 9,628 supervisors deployed across 94,261 Enumeration Blocks.
A total of 76,000 data entry operators digitised the information within 36 days. The Centre for Good Governance developed the digital infrastructure for smooth execution. The first respondent was Telangana Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, who officially launched the survey by participating on November 9, 2024.
Covering 3,54,77,554 individuals, the survey revealed crucial demographic data: BCs accounted for 1,64,09,179 people (46.25 per cent), SCs 61,84,319 (17.43 per cent), STs 37,05,929 (10.45 per cent), and the total Muslim population stood at 44,57,012 (12.56 per cent), including 35,76,588 (10.08 per cent) BC Muslims and 8,80,424 (2.48 per cent) OC Muslims.
Other OCs accounted for 44,21,115 (13.31 per cent), making the total OC population 15.79 per cent. Uttam Kumar Reddy stated that the findings would be used to restructure Telangana's welfare programmes to ensure equitable distribution of resources.
Uttam Reddy acknowledged that the survey faced significant challenges, including misinformation campaigns where false propaganda attempted to mislead the public. Legal hurdles also arose, as PILs were filed against the survey, but the High Court ruled in favour of the government, allowing the process to continue. Among the key operational challenges, 1.03 lakh houses were found locked, 1.68 lakh families were initially hesitant to participate, and 84,137 houses were misclassified due to non-residential usage or occupants being non-Telangana residents.
The government conducted repeated awareness campaigns and field visits to ensure maximum participation and accuracy in data collection.
(With inputs from ANI)