Hyderabad: The BC Commission led by chairman G. Niranjan, met with keep officials to firm up plans for the proposed caste survey in the state. The two-hour meeting discussed the procedures to be undertaken for caste enumeration across the state and reservations for BCs in the upcoming election to local bodies.
The commission will soon announce a formal plan related to the upcoming caste survey, with a detailed schedule of district visits for field-level observations to be released in the near future. This meeting marks the first step in conducting a statewide caste census under commission headed by Niranjan.
Led by Niranjan, commission members Rapolu Jayaprakash, Tirumalagiri Surender, Bala Lakshmi and member-secretary Bala Maya Devi attended the meeting with panchayat raj secretary D.S. Lokesh Kumar, commissioner Anita Ramachandran, and deputy commissioner Sudhakar,
The previous BC Commission, led by Vakulabharanam Krishna Mohan Rao, had in June invited inputs from subject experts on the modalities and methodologies for the caste survey.
Following GO Ms No. 26 by the state government, which authorised the survey, and subsequent directives to prepare a detailed action plan, the commission has commenced discussions with experts, sociologists, caste leaders, public associations and NGOs.
In Saturday's session, the team of experts shared insights about caste surveys conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka, as well as key challenges, legal and technical hurdles, and explored solutions to avoid such issues in Telangana.
The commission highlighted the importance of utilising modern technologies and tools, citing SECC-2011 (Socio Economic Caste Census) as a reference point. Also discussed were the reports of Ambhashankar, Sattenathan and Justice Janardhanam commissions of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka's H. Kantha Raja panel.
The Telangana caste survey is expected to cover key aspects, including socioeconomic, educational, employment, political, and scientific factors. The methodologies were discussed in-depth, and a roadmap for the survey was laid out.
The commission was earlier engaged with the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), the Centre for Good Governance (CGG), and Bureau of Economics and Statistics (BES).
The Telangana BC commission is expected to officially announce the next steps of the survey soon, signalling the state's commitment to gathering comprehensive data that will guide future policy decisions.
