02-07-2025
Expert Group on caste survey to submit its report to State government in 10 days
The Independent Expert Working Group constituted by the Telangana government to analyse and interpret data from the Social, Educational, Employment, Economic, and Caste Survey (SEEEPCS) 2024, commonly known as the caste survey, will submit its 300-page report to the State government in a week or 10 days after incorporating a few suggestions made by the members at the last meeting held here on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media at the Dr. Marri Chenna Reddy HRD Institute of Telangana, chairman of the group and former Supreme Court Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy said that the group had conducted its last meeting at the institute and deliberated on the report to be presented to the State government.
Member-Convenor of the Expert Group, Praveen Chakravarthy, said that they had given rankings to a total of 242 caste groups from the Backward Classes (BC) by developing an objective statistical method called the 'Composite Backwardness Index (CBI)' to scientifically quantify the backwardness of castes.
Mr. Chakravarthy, one of the architects of the CBI, said that it was a first-of-its-kind metric designed and used globally to objectively assess social and economic disparities. They had used 42 parameters to analyse the caste census report, which collected data from over 3.55 crore residents of Telangana who responded to 74 questions covering aspects ranging from education and income to housing, landholding, and experiences of discrimination.
Justice Sudarshan Reddy said that the State government would decide whether to put the report in the public domain or not once it was submitted. Vice-Chairman of the Group, Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, said that no other State or the Union government had conducted a survey like the SEEEPCS in India since its Independence.
This 11-member Independent Expert Group members Prof. Shantha Sinha, Dr. Sukhadeo Thorat, Prof. Bhangya Bhukya, Prof. Purushotham Reddy, State Nodal Officer for the SEEEPCS Survey and Group secretary Anudeep Durishetty were present during the press briefing.
