Hyderabad, Oct.8 (NSS): The Congress-led Telangana government has decided to complete the the process of conducting a caste census within a month.
In a crucial meeting held at the Secretariat chaired by Minister for Transport and BC Welfare Ponnam Prabhakar here on Tuesday, officials discussed finalising the schedule for the census. BC Commission Chairman Niranjan, Chief Minister’s Principal Advisor Ven Narender Reddy, and senior officials from various departments participated in the meeting.
The government has established the BC Commission to determine reservations for Backward Classes (BCs) and has already passed resolutions in both the Assembly and the Cabinet for conducting the caste census.
The meeting focused on how to implement the census effectively, drawing on experiences from other States. Karnataka, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh have already conducted caste censuses and their approaches were closely examined.
During the meeting, Karnataka’s BC Commission survey, Bihar’s General Administration Department (GAD) survey, and Andhra Pradesh’s Panchayati Raj survey were key discussion points. In addition to this, the conduct of a door-to-door and full-scale survey in these States also discussed in the meeting.
On the occasion, Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the best practices from these efforts will be adopted for Telangana.
The meeting also addressed the Supreme Court’s favorable verdict on SC classification, noting that the data from the caste census would also be useful for this process.
It was decided that a transparent census should be conducted by either the GAD, Panchayati Raj, or Revenue departments, and a final decision will be made in two days in a meeting with senior Ministers.
Additionally, it was suggested that the census be monitored by a senior IAS officer to ensure accuracy.
“The goal is to complete the census within a month,” announced Ponnam Prabhakar.
Key attendees included BC Commission Chairman Niranjan, BC Welfare department Principal Secretary Burra Venkatesham, Panchayati Raj Secretary Lokesh Kumar, Commissioner Anita Ramachandran, BC Commissioner Bala Mayadevi and Law Secretary Rajasekhar, among other senior officials.
