Hyderabad. The Telangana government’s comprehensive socio-economic, employment, political and caste survey started on Wednesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised to conduct a caste-based survey during the assembly elections. State Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy termed the survey as a ‘yagya’ to achieve social justice and equality of opportunity for the oppressed sections.
In a post on the social media platform ‘X’, he said that this massive campaign started on the land of Telangana is a “bold act” which will change the social outlook of the country under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Reddy also met Governor Jishnu Dev Varma and informed him about the survey. The Chief Minister urged the Governor to give information about this survey to the Central Government so that it can be kept in mind during the national census to be held in 2025.
An official release said Reddy explained the survey and its process to the governor in detail. During this time, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and other leaders were also present with him. The Chief Minister and leaders told the Governor that Telangana will become a model state for the country regarding the survey. Official sources said that in the first phase of caste survey, a list of houses will be prepared in each block from November 6 to 8, after which in the second phase, family survey will be conducted from November 9.
Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that 94,750 enumerators and 9,478 observers have been selected across the state. Each enumerator will visit 150 houses and conduct a survey. He told that both have been given training. Vikramark said that this survey is being conducted with the aim of achieving the goals of equality of opportunities and social justice mentioned in the Constitution. He appealed to the citizens to provide information to the enumerators for this “great work”.
The Deputy Chief Minister told reporters, “The purpose of this caste survey is to understand the political, economic and social condition of different sections of the society and an attempt will also be made to know whether they are getting resources, opportunities and other things equally.” Or not.” He said, “When the survey is completed, we will announce the current situation of the society, of all the communities, of all the people of the society.”
In the survey, information about families will be collected through 56 main questions and 19 supplementary questions. In the survey, questions related to religion, caste, marital status, educational qualification, work, annual income etc. of the household members will be asked. In the caste survey, families will also be asked whether the family members can freely visit local temples/mosques/churches/other places of worship without any discrimination and intimidation. Vikramarka said that it was assured that the data obtained under the survey would be kept confidential. Citizens should not have any kind of doubt in sharing information.
He said, “When the entire survey is completed then we will announce what is the current situation of the society, of all the communities and of all the people of the society.” Addressing a meeting organized by the Telangana unit of Congress on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi had said that he was fully committed to ensuring caste census in Telangana and making the state an example for caste census in the country.
State Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, while launching the survey at the Grand Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) office, urged the citizens to give information to the surveyors without any apprehension. Describing the survey as a “historic” decision, Prabhakar said that this exercise will show the way to the country in the coming days. State IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu said the survey would help the government make plans for the welfare and development of various sections of the society.