According to Rahul Gandhi, a senior Congress leader, caste discrimination in India is “unique” and among the worst in the world. Speaking in Telangana, which is set to become the second Congress-ruled state to conduct a caste census, Gandhi emphasized the party’s commitment to dismantling the “artificial barrier” of 50 percent reservation in educational and employment opportunities.
The caste survey will start on November 6 and run until the end of the month. Gandhi, with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in tow, attended a meeting called by the state Congress and interacted with social groups, caste associations, and other stakeholders.
The Congress party intends to carry out this caste survey in collaboration with economic mapping to identify the poor of India and their demographic percentage. It is seen as a significant step toward removing the current reservation cap. In an earlier post on X, Gandhi said such efforts would “X-Ray” the nation, evenly distributing reservations and rights.
The previous caste survey relied on the 1993 law and was largely built on education and employment data. The new census in Telangana will gather the socio-economic profile of every caste.
To make it easy to carry out the survey, some 48,000 teachers will be engaged, and the primary schools will be done on half days for the whole month. Enumerators will conduct house-to-house enumeration of data gathering involving social, educational, employment, economic, and political information. The government staff will put stickers on doors, and the total number of enumerators to be engaged will be 85,000.
