Hyderabad:
Caste discrimination in India is “unique” – probably among the worst in the world – and Congress will break down the “artificial barrier” of 50 percent reservations, senior party leader Rahul Gandhi said today. Mr Gandhi is in Telangana, which becomes the second Congress-ruled state after Karnataka to conduct a caste census.
The caste survey will be conducted by the state government from November 6 and will continue till the end of the month.
Mr Gandhi along with party chief Mallikarjun Kharge attended a meeting organized by the State Congress where he interacted with social groups, caste associations, state leaders and other stakeholders.
The Congress is determined to conduct a caste survey, along with economic mapping, to reveal who India's poor are and what percentage of the population they constitute. This, the party claims, will help do away with the 50 percent cap on reservations.
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The previous Backward Caste Panel was based on a 1993 law and was only mandated to collect data on education and employment quotas. This time, the Telangana census will collect the socio-economic profile of all castes, sources said.
It is expected that 48,000 teachers will be deployed for the study, for which primary schools will only work for half a day this month.
They go from house to house and conduct surveys to collect data. This includes social, educational, employment, economic and political data. The government staff will put stickers on doors. There will be 85,000 counters.
