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| Telangana's Caste Survey: Informing Evidence-Based Policies |
The Telangana Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution to conduct a comprehensive household caste survey across the state. This initiative aims to gather detailed welfare data categorized by castes, enabling evidence-based policy interventions.
Door-to-Door Survey Approach:
The survey will employ a door-to-door approach, collecting data on education levels, income, employment, and political representation from all households in Telangana. This strategy will facilitate tailored upliftment initiatives.
Focus on OBCs, SCs, and STs:
Special emphasis will be placed on capturing disaggregated statistics for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes, given their significant populations. This data will inform targeted affirmative actions by the state government.
Welfare and Entitlement Planning:
By examining ground realities, the caste census aims to address inequality and bridge development gaps through calibrated reservations in jobs and education, financial inclusion schemes, and monitoring political representation in local governance.
Addressing Data Gaps:
Caste data collection is long overdue, with India's last countrywide socio-economic survey dating back to 2011-12 and no caste breakup enumerated since the 1931 census under British rule. States are now taking the initiative, as the Union government has yet to decide on conducting an all-India survey.
Third State to Conduct Such Survey:
Telangana joins Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in legislating for caste-based surveys to reform welfare planning. Bihar's survey revealed significant insights, leading to adjustments in reservations, while Andhra Pradesh introduced a special phone app for census data collection, including a 'No caste' option.