Centre's Caste Census Decision Our Victory: Bhatti

The BC Employees' Association and leaders of various BC caste organisations today felicitated Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka with ceremonial shawls and congratulated him at the Praja Bhavan Camp Office in Khammam on Saturday, for the Union government's decision to conduct a caste census.

On the occasion, Vikramarka said that the Union government's decision to conduct a nationwide caste census was a victory for the people of Telangana and their government, and was the result of the pressure exerted by the Telangana government and the Congress.

He said that a resolution calling for a nationwide caste census - similar to that of Telangana - was passed during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Gujarat, and the issue was subsequently raised in Parliament, which ultimately compelled the Centre to agree to a national caste census.

The Telangana government had, acting under the directives of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, conducted its caste census meticulously and without errors, which had made the State a role model for the entire country, he claimed. Telangana was the only State since India's independence to have carried out such a comprehensive caste census successfully and without any objections, and the State government was committed to incorporating the findings of this survey into its policy-making, he added. A resolution granting 42% reservations to BCs was already passed in the State Assembly and submitted to the Centre along with strong representation, Vikramarka said.

Vikramarka also pointed out that no caste census had been conducted in India since 1930, and Telangana's initiative marked the first successful effort post-independence. Conducting such a survey was a complex task, but Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, himself (as Deputy CM), and the entire cabinet undertook the challenge and completed the process within 50 to 55 days, he said.

He claimed that the caste census not only collected information about caste groups but also gathered data on people's economic status, political representation, employment conditions, distribution of natural resources among communities, and their overall standard of living. This data, he said, would be crucial in shaping the government's future welfare and development policies.