Telangana seeks OBC category in Census, assembly passes resolution | Hyderabad News

Hyderabad: In a significant push for a more accurate caste enumeration, the Telangana assembly on Friday unanimously passed a resolution urging the Centre to modify the Census 2027 questionnaire to explicitly include Other Backward Classes (OBCs) as a separate category and adopt pre-verified caste lists to ensure reliable caste data for policymaking and welfare programmes.The resolution seeks amendments to question No. 10 of the second phase Census schedule notified by the Centre, arguing that OBCs should be specifically listed on a par with Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), instead of being subsumed under a broad ‘Other Caste’ (OC) category.The assembly also urged the Centre to incorporate officially recognised caste lists of BCs, as identified by both the central and state govts, into the digital census platform in advance. This, it said, would allow enumerators to select castes directly from pre-loaded lists, reduce errors, and ensure greater accuracy in data collection.The state govt further stressed that the objective of a caste census, namely, identifying various caste groups and their population proportions for designing welfare measures for marginalised sections, should not be undermined by flawed data collection practices.Introducing the resolution, BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the Telangana govt had conducted a comprehensive Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) Survey in 2024.“The survey confirmed that BCs constitute the largest proportion of the state’s population. Based on this report, the state legislative assembly passed constitutional bills granting 42% reservation to BCs in local body elections, educational admissions, and govt jobs. These Bills are currently pending approval and assent from the President of India,” he said.The minister said the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 was undertaken to identify various caste groups, including SCs, STs and OBCs, and estimate their population shares to facilitate targeted welfare interventions.“Due to the absence of pre-verified caste lists and the use of ambiguous open-ended questions, millions of caste names were recorded inconsistently, making data coding impossible. Consequently, this valuable data became unusable for policymaking,” Ponnam said.In contrast, he said, the Telangana govt‘s 2024 survey produced more reliable results by using pre-defined and clearly classified caste lists during the enumeration process.Referring to the Union govt’s Aug 14 notification, Prabhakar said the ministry of home affairs had issued a 40-question schedule for the second phase of Census 2027. Under column No. 10, respondents are required to identify themselves as belonging to ‘SC/ST/OC.’The minister argued that the omission of OBCs as a distinct category could result in inaccurate and unreliable enumeration of the country’s largest social group. Reverting to an open-ended format, he said, the exercise risked repeating the shortcomings that affected previous caste data collection efforts.While moving the resolution, Ponnam called for a nationwide caste census and the collection of accurate population data on OBCs. He said credible caste data was essential for advancing social justice and ensuring equitable access to education, employment, reservations and political representation.He also appealed to members of parties that are part of the ruling coalition at the Centre to support the resolution. The unanimously adopted resolution will now be forwarded to the Centre for necessary action.Interestingly, the Telangana resolution comes just days after the Tamil Nadu assembly unanimously passed a similar resolution seeking the use of officially recognised caste names for OBC data collection during the second phase of Census 2027.