Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will meet Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and AICC President, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Thursday morning in Delhi to brief them on the modalities and execution of the caste survey in Telangana.
The Chief Minister will explain the process adopted by the state government to collect the data during Socio-Economic, Education, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) survey.
Revanth Reddy, who reached the national capital on Wednesday, told media persons that this meeting is aimed to seek their support to exert pressure on the Centre to include two laws passed by the state legislature to enhance reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) to 42 per cent, in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution.
He said based on the data collected during the survey, the Bills were passed to enhance BC quota in education, employment and local bodies.
The Chief Minister, who is leading a delegation of state ministers and senior Congress leaders, will make a presentation on the caste census and BC reservations to all Congress MPs on Thursday evening.
The Congress leader said they would insist on including the BC reservation laws in the 9th Schedule during the current Parliament session.
Revanth Reddy stated that the SEEPC Survey process was launched on February 4, 2024 and completed on February 4, 2025. The survey report was approved by the state Assembly on February 4, 2025.
During the survey, socio-economic, education, employment, political and caste details of 3.55 crore people were collected. The survey revealed that BCs are 56.4 per cent, Scheduled Castes (SCs) are 17.45 per cent, Scheduled Tribes (STs) are 10.08 per cent, and upper castes are 10.09 per cent. The CM said 3.09 per cent of people stated that they do not belong to any caste.
He said the state government constituted an Independent Expert Working Group (IEWG) to study SEEEPC survey. The IEWG submitted a comprehensive report on its findings. The report will be discussed in the Cabinet and will be tabled in the state Assembly.
He said the findings of the survey will help the government in formulating policies and streamlining and bettering existing ones to better enable social justice, social empowerment and social uplift.
Revanth Reddy claimed that Telangana became a role model for the entire country in conducting a caste survey.
The Chief Minister said the BJP government, which had given an affidavit to the Supreme Court saying caste survey would not be conducted, took a U-turn after Telangana government conducted the caste survey and issueda gazette notification to conduct caste census along with the population census.
He suggested the Centre to follow Telangana’s roadmap for collecting caste data across the country.
He recalled that Rahul Gandhi, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, had announced in Telangana that if Congress comes to power, it would conduct caste survey. Fulfilling his promise, the Congress conducted the caste survey after coming to power in Telangana.
The Chief Minister predicted that OBC reservation will become a litmus test in 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
He said the BJP government, which had refused to withdraw farm laws, was forced to scrap them, and on the issue of caste survey, they made it to follow their path.
(IANS)
