Hyderabad: People question caste census as many left out; here is a thread of complaints

Hyderabad: Though the state Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the Center to emulate Telangana in the caste census, there is still a section of people whose details have not been gathered by the enumerators during the comprehensive house-to-house survey.

Many of them reached out to the NewsMeter's X handle to express their concerns and stated that the enumerators did not visit their households and gathered their details for the Congress government's comprehensive socio-economic, employment, political, and caste survey. The state government began the survey on November 6, 2024, and it was completed in the first week of December in all districts.

As per the survey report, Backward Classes constitute 56.33 percent of Telangana’s population, followed by the Scheduled Castes (17.43 percent), Scheduled Tribes (10.45), backward classes among Muslims (10.08) and Other Castes (13.31), OCs among Muslims (2.48) in terms of the percentage of the population.

One of the X users, Mihira Bharadwaj, a resident of Nagole said, “My home was not surveyed and none of the enumerators reached us to gather the details. One of my family members lives at home full-time. There is no question of unavailability, etc. You can share information with the officials if they are willing to attend a survey.”

Another X user, who wished to remain anonymous shared a similar experience, "The enumerators did not even conduct a caste census in my region; they missed a few areas in Bachupally, one of which was my area, Lakshmi Enclave Colony; not even a single apartment in my area was surveyed; I thought they simply missed my house, but they missed my entire area. I have confirmed with my neighboring unit, and there are no surveys in my area. I also want this caste to be abolished and reservations to be based on economic conditions, but our system has failed to recognize the poor, thus reservations are still caste-based.”

“My house was not surveyed by the enumerators, we were not available when they visited my house. They put a cross X mark on the poster, and they did not come again,” said Sai Krishna Reddy.

Similar is the case with Sukesh from MBR Colony, Dammaiguda, “None of the enumerators visited my colony and conducted the survey where around 65 people reside. We reached out to our vice chairman of the municipality about the enumerators who didn’t gather details for the survey. However, none of them turned up for the survey, even though the matter was taken into the notice of the municipality vice chairman.”

Another X user, Chai, said, “It's clear now, this survey was hastily done only because this is the only place Congress can get it done. It is only a data tool for Rahul to keep caste politics going.”

What is the Caste Census Survey?

The Congress government's comprehensive socio-economic, employment, political and caste survey, an election promise of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. It was conducted for 50 days from November 6, 2024.

The total number of households in the state is 1,15,78,457, while 1,12,15,134 households were surveyed. The state government has spent around Rs 160 crore and prepared a specific armory report within a year after forming the government.

The survey aims to facilitate data-driven welfare policies and create opportunities in social, economic, educational, and political fields for the poorest of the poor, the weakest of the weak, and marginalized sections of society in Telangana, the state government said.