BC ministers thank AP CM for caste census in state

Vijayawada: Ministers and people’s representatives representing backward classes called on Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in his chambers at the AP Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

They collectively expressed gratitude to the CM for announcing in the house that a caste census will be taken up in Andhra Pradesh.

Those who met the Chief Minister included ministers V. Rajani, J. Ramesh, Ch. S. Venugopal Krishna and K.V. Ushasri Charan, government whip K. Dharmasri, MLAs M. Sankaranarayana and P. Satish.

Earlier, introducing the resolution for caste census in the State Legislative Assembly, information minister Chelluboyina Venugopal Krishna underlined: “Conducting caste census is the need of the hour. There is an immediate need to find out the population growth of each caste. Since the national census is not conducted caste wise, YSRC government is requesting the union government to take up caste-wise census, which is necessary for ensuring social justice.

Venugopal Krishna went on to say that the government will conduct a caste census in the state on its own based on recommendations of experts. He said the state government has constituted a high-level committee of six senior officers to submit its recommendations on the modalities of the caste census.

The minister reminded that this is not the first time that YSRC has raised this demand. Earlier in January this year, at an all-party meeting convened by the centre ahead of the budget session, the party had called for a nationwide caste-based economic census. In November 2021 too, the state had adopted a resolution for enumeration of BCs in the state.