Telangana Caste Survey: 56.33% of state’s population are Backward Classes

Hyderabad: Around 56.33 percent of Telangana's population belongs to Backward Classes (BCs) of the total 3.70 crore population, according to the caste survey conducted in the state, said Minister for Irrigation and Civil Supplies N Uttam Kumar Reddy.

On Sunday, the state planning department, which conducted the survey, submitted its report to a cabinet subcommittee chaired by Uttam Kumar Reddy. “Through the survey, data-driven welfare and data-driven opportunities in social, economic, educational, political fields would be available to the poorest of the poor, weakest of the weak and marginalised sections in Telangana," he said.

Backward Caste compounds to the highest population

SC - 61,84,319 @ 17.43%

ST - 37,05,929 @ 10.45%

BC (other than Muslims) 1,64,09,179 @ 46.25%

Muslim Minority - 44,57,012 @ 12.56%

OC - 56,01,539 @ 15.79%

Total - 3,54,77,554 @ 100% surveyed

Male - 1,79,21,183 @ 50.51%

Female - 1,75,42,597 @ 49.45%

Third gender - 13,774 @ 0.04%

Total - 3,54,77,554 @ 100%

Special session of Assembly on February 4 to discuss caste census

In order to examine and approve the entire report of the Socio, Economic, Education, Employment, Political, and Caste survey, the State government has chosen to call a special session of the Legislative Assembly for Tuesday, the minister said.

Disclosing the details before the media at Dr BR Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat here, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the total households in the state are 1,15,78,457, while the total households surveyed are 1,12,15,134. In terms of population percentage, BCs are followed by Scheduled Castes (17.43%), Scheduled Tribes (10.45%), backward classes among Muslims (10.08), Other Castes (13.31), and OCs among Muslims (2.48%).

Reddy said that Telangana has at least 162 Backward Class communities, which are divided into five categories: A, B, C, D, and E. Group C comprises Scheduled Castes who have converted to Christianity, while Group E consists of Muslims who are socially and educationally backward. Elaborating further, the minister said that in terms of numbers, the population of SCs is 61,84,319, STs is 37,05,929, BCs other than Muslim minorities is 1,64,09,179, BCs among Muslim minorities 35,76,588, Muslim (OC) is 8,80,424.

“The total Muslim percentage in the state is 12.56. Telangana provides reservations to backward Muslims in the backward classes category,” he said. Reddy, who termed the report as historic, said the Congress government's comprehensive socio-economic, employment, political and caste survey, an election promise of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, was conducted for 50 days from November 6, 2024.

The survey involved 1,03,889 enumerators and supervisors. He stated that it covered 96.9% of the state's population (3.54 crore people), but left out approximately 16 lakh people. The survey covered 1.12 crore of the state's 1.15 crore families, he explained.

“Around 3.1% of the population (16 lakh) were excluded from the survey because they were either unavailable or did not express an interest in participating. This process of preparing the report and the report itself is a landmark achievement for the government of Telangana which will go down in the annals of the social history of the country," Uttam Kumar Reddy said.