BRS doubts authenticity of caste census data citing disparities in BC numbers

BRS questions accuracy of Telangana caste census data, highlighting disparities in household and population numbers.

HYDERABAD

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has expressed doubts over the caste census conducted by the Congress government in Telangana stating that there are disparities in the number of households, total population compared to the data collected as part of 2011 Census and integrated household survey conducted in 2014.

Speaking separately on the issue on Monday, party MLC K. Kavitha and former minister V. Srinivas Goud said it was for Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to answer himself whether the data collection exercise was correct and the data was genuine with reports from across the State indicating that the surveyors (data collection staff) did not contact many households.

Stating that as per 2011 Census data the number of households in Telangana was 83 lakh and population was 3.5 crore, Ms. Kavitha said the household survey conducted in August 2014 had found that the households were at 1.03 crore and population at 3.68 crore, indicating that about 20 lakh households had increased in a matter of just four years.

However, the recent caste census conducted had put the number of households at 1.15 crore and population at 3.7 crore, raising doubts over the two figures as number of households had gone up by only 12 lakh and population by just 2 lakh in the 10-year period from 2014 to 24, the BRS MLC said.

Further, she pointed out that the household survey conducted by the BRS government had found OC (open category or forward castes) at much lesser proportion compared to their numbers revealed in the recent survey. She sought to know whether only the OC population had increased and that of BC, SC and ST had decreased as the difference in the BC population in the two surveys was 21 lakh.

“Instead of getting the survey done through the Dedicated Commission, the government had got it done with the Planning department. Let the survey documents be put to scrutiny within a 15-day time frame,” she said. She demanded that a Bill be introduced in the Assembly for increase in BC reservation in local bodies even if the data collected was not perfect.