Consolidating the backward classes – The Hindu

After conducting a comprehensive survey to assess the socio, economic, educational, employment, political, and caste status of the people of Telangana, the Congress government is faced with the challenging task of consolidating its base among backward classes in the local body elections.

The survey spanning close to two months shows that the population of backward classes is 56.33%. The survey, engaging over 1.03 lakh personnel covering 94,261 enumeration blocks with 150 houses each, says that Scheduled Castes (SCs) comprise 17.43% and Scheduled Tribes (STs) 10.45% of the State’s 3.7 crore population. Other castes formed the remaining 15.79%.

When the survey report was tabled in the Assembly, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised doubts over the numbers. BJP MLA Payal Shankar wondered whether it was constitutionally valid to categorise backward classes along religious lines (46.25% were categorised as backward classes in the Hindu community and 10.08% as backward classes in the Muslim community). Comparing the survey report with the Samagra Kutumba Survey, a household study conducted by the previous BRS government (then called the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government) on a single day in 2014, BRS members criticised the government for the rise in the number of other castes and the decline in the backward classes population.

The Congress held that the previous government survey had no sanctity as it was not approved by the council of ministers nor tabled in the Assembly. Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the survey is not just a data collection exercise, but a revolution in social justice, ensuring that the most vulnerable sections receive the benefits they deserve.

Amid the increasing demand for implementation of enhanced reservations for backward classes following the results of the survey, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy asserted that the Congress is committed to providing 42% reservation to backward classes in the upcoming local body polls and dared the Opposition parties to allocate the same number of seats.

This again raises questions of whether implementation of higher reservations is possible in local body polls. The dedicated commission headed by retired bureaucrat, Busani Venkateswarlu, is said to have come up with a methodology of providing higher reservations to backward classes, at least in local body elections, without exceeding the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court.

In its report submitted to the government, the commission said that of the 12,751 gram panchayats going to the polls, 2,458 gram panchayats, including 1,281 located in the agency areas and 1,177 gram panchayats with a 100% ST population, have been set aside for the STs in line with the constitutional mandate leaving another 10,293 gram panchayats. Of these, the STs were given 688 and SCs were given 2,113 in accordance with their population. The government could fulfil its promise of 42% quota to Backward Classes in these panchayats allotting around 4,200 exclusively to these communities.

The Commission suggested that reservations should be finalised for wards, gram panchayats, mandal parishad territorial constituencies, mandal praja parishad presidents, zilla parishad territorial constituencies, and zilla parishad chairpersons. Reservations could be finalised based on the population of the backward classes in the respective gram panchayats so that there will be no scope for legal complications.

The survey is being seen by some as a major initiative by the government to woo the backward classes. The Telugu Desam Party had the reputation of consolidating a major chunk of the the community’s vote in erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh. This vote scattered after the formation of Telangana. Given the crucial role the large number of voters of the backward classes play in elections, all political parties have intensified their efforts to attract the community. While the Congress has made public its intentions to formulate evidence-based policies, the BJP has been projecting leaders such as Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar and MP Eatala Rajender, both from backward classes. The BRS, however, has not announced any initiatives despite having data on the backward classes after the Samagra Kutumba Survey was conducted and will have to intensify its efforts to compete for the votes of this community.