Caste data to be tabled in December

Hyderabad: The state government is preparing to unveil the findings of its ongoing caste census during the upcoming monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly, likely to be held in the second week of December.

The government plans to introduce a Bill in the Assembly to enhance caste-based reservations and forward it to the Centre for approval, official sources said.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy is expected to present the report, with a resolution likely to follow, urging the Centre to approve increased reservations for various castes based on their population proportions as revealed by the census.

The state government launched its door-to-door caste census on November 9. As of November 27, the survey has covered 95 per cent of the 1,18,02,726 identified households, with 1,10,98,360 households surveyed. Only 7,04,366 households remain to be covered. Simultaneously, data from 29,82,034 households have been digitised, and the entire exercise is expected to conclude by the first week of December. A report summarizing the findings is likely to be ready for presentation in the Assembly by the second week of December.

Telangana’s move echoes Bihar’s recent caste census initiative conducted between July 2022 and August 2023. The Bihar government tabled its findings in the Legislative Assembly in October 2023, leading to legislative action to increase reservations from 50 per cent to 65 per cent. This included increased reservations for EBCs (extremely backward classes) from 18 per cent to 25 per cent, OBCs from 12 per cent to 18 per cent, SCs from 16 per cent to 20 per cent, STs from one per cent to two per cent, while it scrapped three per cent reservations for OBC (women).

However, the Patna High Court had in July this year struck the enhancement of reservations beyond 50 per cent terming it unconstitutional. The Bihar government challenged the High Court's order in the Supreme Court, which refused to stay the High Court orders. The case is still pending in the apex court.

Telangana has already breached the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent reservation cap. Initially, the state provided 50 per cent reservations, including quotas for BCs (25 per cent), Muslims under the BC-E category (four per cent), SCs (15 per cent) and STs (six per cent) till September 2022.

The BRS government had in October 2022 raised ST reservations from six per cent to 10 per cent, increasing the total reservation quota to 54 per cent. Legal challenges to this hike are pending in the High Court.

The incumbent Congress-led government, under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, aims to leverage the caste census data to advocate proportional reservations. However, whether the proposed enhancements will withstand legal scrutiny remains uncertain, given the ongoing judicial challenges in other states.