Caste census report will be made public sans personal details: Uttam

Reddy, who headed the cabinet sub-committee on the caste census, stated that the report consists of four volumes spanning one thousand pages. The first three volumes will be publicly accessible, while the fourth volume will remain confidential as it contains personal data that is protected under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. He said that the caste-based socio-economic survey was the most scientific, transparent and accurate population study since independence.

He stated that this was the first-ever field-based caste survey undertaken after the 2011 Census, thereby rendering all statistics cited by opposition parties false and fictitious.

Addressing the media at the Assembly committee hall prior to the powerpoint presentation by the principal secretary (planning) Sandeep Kumar Sultania and Hyderabad collector Anudeep Durishetty, the minister said that the government had ensured the highest level of accuracy in data collection.

The minister reiterated that no authentic caste-based data had been compiled in the past, particularly for Backward Classes (BCs). Unlike previous studies, which were incomplete or unofficial, this was the first legitimate and detailed caste survey.

The findings would help shape welfare policies by assessing the socio-economic conditions of different communities. He assured that the data was free from any sort of political influence, as the entire exercise was undertaken by the government staff.
Rejecting claims that similar surveys had been conducted earlier, Reddy pointed out that the Intensive Household Survey (IHS) 2014 was never made public by the BRS government, which did not endorse it as official data. He asserted that the survey conducted by the Congress government was the only genuine attempt to document caste demographics accurately and that no one could challenge its authenticity.

“Nobody can challenge us. These are the only real figures and there is no need to be defensive. We are speaking the truth,” he declared.

He called for countering the propaganda by opposition parties and said that anybody questioning the survey should be countered with all facts and figures. He claimed that there was no official data on any caste except for the 2011 Census. He pointed out that even the SC categorisation was based on the 2011 Census.

Uttam Reddy clarified that the BC population percentage has increased compared to previous records. From what was 51.09 per cent during the BRS regime, has now risen to 56.33 per cent. Similarly, the Scheduled Tribes (ST) population percentage increased from 9.8 per cent to 10.45 per cent, while that of the other castes (OCs) decreased from 21.55 per cent to 15.79 per cent.

"When no genuine study was conducted on the BC population, which figures are the opposition parties using to compare the existing numbers?" he wondered.

He dismissed electoral roll figures as unreliable due to duplication and the absence of Aadhaar linkage, stressing that the urban-rural migration and Andhra-Telangana demographic shifts made voter lists an unreliable population estimate. He highlighted that previous elections were based only on BC voter lists, which was inaccurate vis-à-vis the BC population.

This survey, he stated, is the first time a BC-specific caste enumeration has been undertaken, making it critical for future electoral and policy decisions.

Later, speaker Gadam Prasad Kumar, council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy, ministers Ponnam Prabhakar and Uttam Kumar Reddy, chief whip Aadi Srinivas, MP Dr. Mallu Ravi, along with MLCs and MLAs, attended the PPT presentation on the methodology and process adopted for the survey.

BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar reiterated that the Congress government had undertaken an exhaustive process to collect this data, unlike the previous BRS administration that relied on unofficial and misleading figures.