Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao extended his support for the caste-based census. In the Assembly meeting on Tuesday, he demanded the centre to implement reservations based on population ratio. He further stated that the state Assembly will pass a resolution in favour of caste-based census. KCR said that the centre has fixed the reservations of SC at 15 percent at the national and state levels but the population of scheduled castes (SCs) has increased across the country including Telangana. KCR questioned why is the centre objecting to conduct the caste-based census and demanded a reason.

According to the Comprehensive Household Survey, there are about 1.03 crore families including 18.22 lakh Dalit families in Telangana. He said that the percentage might have increased because the survey was conducted five-six years ago.

In Mancherial, the SC population is highest and it accounts for 25.64 percent followed by 21.53 percent in Jangaon district, 22.46 percent in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, 20.44 percent in Karimnagar, 21.35 percent in Khammam, 22.27 percent in Nagar Kurnool, 21 percent in Peddapalli, 21.37 percent in Rangareddy, and 21.91 percent in Vikarabad. Hyderabad has the lowest with 11.71 percent of the Dalit population.

What Is Caste-Based Census?

Caste census means the inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of the population of India in the census exercise held once in ten years. From 1951 to 2011, every census in India has published the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, comprising the Dalits and the Adivasis, along with data including religions, languages, socioeconomic status, etc. There was no data related to OBC’s, the lower and intermediate castes which roughly constitute about 52 percent of India's population. All castes other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have been listed in the general category.