Why are BC's upset with the caste survey in Telangana? Congress says numbers are real

Hyderabad: Backward class population is the highest in Telangana at 56.33 percent according to the caste census survey report.

Despite the highest population percentage, there is a hue and cry in the BC associations leading the Congress party to issue a statement that they must not be misled by the Opposition.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President Mahesh Goud in a press conference warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those who speak against party policies.

The disciplinary committee in a meeting stated that they will issue show cause notice and initiate disciplinary action against MLC Teenmaar Mallana for speaking against party policies.

Why is there a hue and cry in BC associations?

Backward class associations are raising a hue and cry as the caste census has shown their population to be 46.25 percent. The addition of Muslim minorities in the BC category is 10.08 percent. The total number of BC’s in Telangana are 56.33 percent according to the caste survey.

There are 200 sub-castes of BC associations in Telangana. The caste survey has been carried out in 96 percent of the population.

According to sources, BC associations are upset as they believed that their percentage was more during the BRS government survey and is now showing less in the Congress caste survey.

The caste survey will now be a yardstick for electoral and policy decisions and BC’s who comprise the highest in Telangana want their population numbers to be accurate.

Uttam Kumar Reddy in a press conference clarified that the BC population percentage has increased compared to previous records. 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 percentage.

Uttam Kumar Reddy strongly condemned the opposition leaders for falsely claiming that the BC population percentage has decreased. "When no genuine study was conducted on BC population, which figures are the opposition parties using to compare the existing numbers?" he asked.

No published data by BRS

Uttam Kumar Reddy rejected claims that similar surveys were conducted earlier pointing out that the Intensive Household Survey 2014 was never made public. Reddy says, “There is no official data by the BRS government.”

Caste survey data is genuine

Backward class welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar reiterated that the Congress government had undertaken an exhaustive process to collect this data, unlike previous administrations that relied on unofficial and misleading figures. Prabhakar says, “We have trained one lakh government staff and they have carried out a household survey in a scientific manner. The numbers being presented by the Opposition are false and misleading.”

Real time data

Congress ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Poonam Prabhakar, Speaker Gadam Prasad Kumar, council chairman G Sukhendra Reddy, chief whip Aadi Srinivas, TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud and member of Parliament Dr Mallu Ravi were present during the presentation of the survey methodology and collection of data.

Uttam Kumar Reddy says, “These are real figures and there is no need for us to be defensive. Nobody can challenge us. There is no official data on any caste except for the 2011 census. The SC categorisation is also based on the 2011 census only.”

Work towards achieving reservations

Telangana Commission for Backward Classes met and they have urged all the Backward class leaders and organizations to focus on achieving reservations based on the findings of the survey rather than debating on numbers. G Niranjan who chaired the meeting said, "The long pending aspirations of the BC's have been fulfilled. The commission is now going to take details of government employees who are working in various departments and co-operative societies to study the implementation of reservations."

Method of conducting the survey

Survey was conducted in two phases

Phase 1 - House listing was carried out from November 6 to 8, 2024.

The main data collection was carried out from November 9 to December 2025.

Survey questions - 57 primary questions and 75 data fields were there.

Data monitoring: Real time collection, daily updates, twelve high level review meetings and three meetings with Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on the progress of the survey.

Not part of the survey

4 percent of Telangana population is not a part of the survey.

There were 1.03 lakh locked houses.

There are 1.68 lakh unwilling respondents

84,137 misclassified households

Due to inhibitions of people ‘no caste and no religion’ was also introduced to make people become a part of the survey.

Data processing:

Data processing was carried out by 76,000 data entry operators and response digitized in 36 days.

Data categorized in four volumes covering state wide statistics, urban and rural demographics and caste-wise population survey.

Survey results:

Total population surveyed: 3,54,77,554.

SC’s - 17.43 percent.

BC’s - 46.25 percent.

Muslims - 12.56 percent.

BC’s in Muslims - 10.08 percent.

OC’s in Muslims - 2.48 percent.

Other OC’s - 13.31 percent.