The Telangana government is all set to begin its long-awaited caste survey on Saturday, with the ruling Congress terming it as a “historic and revolutionary moment”.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh made the announcement in a post on X and said the survey will cover 1.17 crore households in 33 districts.
"The Congress Government in Telangana will begin its caste-based survey today. 80,000 ennumerators will be going door to door over the next few weeks, covering over 1.17 crore households across 33 districts,” Ramesh said.
The Congress leader noted that this is the first time a caste-based survey is being conducted by the government in Telangana since 1931.
“It is a historic, revolutionary moment - one that is a realization of the Telangana Movement's aspirations for the state and a fulfilment of one of the key ideals of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution," he said.
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Recalling senior party leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in Hyderabad last week, Ramesh said the survey in Telangana would be a blueprint for the national caste census that the INDIA alliance would conduct once it came to power.
“This census, and the lifting of the Supreme Court's arbitrary ceiling of 50 per cent on reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes are central to Congress's vision for the country,” he added.
Earlier, the state-level consultations on the caste survey was conducted at the Gandhian Ideology Centre in Bowenpally. Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting along with party’s state leaders and ministers.
The Telangana government had earlier announced that the caste survey would be conducted in the state from November 6 to November 30.