Hyderabad: The Telangana government's comprehensive socio-economic, employment, political and caste survey began on Wednesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had promised to conduct a caste-based survey in the state during the assembly elections. State Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy termed the survey as a yajna to achieve social justice and equality of opportunities for oppressed classes.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said this on X

He wrote in a post on Instagram that this massive campaign is a bold task that will change the social outlook of the country under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Reddy also met Governor Jishnu Dev Verma and informed him about the survey. He also urged him to inform the central government about this survey so that it can be taken into account during the national census to be held in 2025.

State Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar launched the survey at the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) office, and urged citizens to cooperate with the enumerators and provide accurate information. He said the data will remain confidential, and the goal is to remove inequalities and ensure equal justice for all.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took part in the meeting

State IT Minister D. Sridhar Babu highlighted that the survey will help the government design targeted welfare and development programmes for different sections of the society. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attended the Telangana Congress meeting on caste survey on November 5. Rahul Gandhi also reaffirmed his commitment to make the state a model for caste-based data collection. He admitted that though the survey may have some initial shortcomings, these will be addressed.

Apart from the survey, the government has appointed a one-man commission headed by retired IAS officer Busani Venkateswara Rao to conduct an empirical inquiry to identify backward classes for local body reservation.

This matter was also heard in the Supreme Court

Following the recent Supreme Court verdict allowing sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for reservation, Backward Classes (BC) community leaders in Telangana have called on the state government to conduct a separate survey for BCs.