Andhra govt to begin Backward Class caste census around Nov 15: Minister

Amaravati, Oct 18 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh government will begin Backward Classes caste census around November 15, aimed at better serving the 139 communities which fall under this category, Minister C Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna said on Wednesday.

The Backward Classes Welfare Minister noted the government will extensively deploy the village secretariat system for the caste census, along with the volunteer system.

"From November 15, one week here and there, this caste census will begin. For the BC caste census, the village secretariat system will be used extensively, along with the volunteer system," said Krishna, addressing a press conference at the Secretariat.

According to the Minister, there are about 139 BC castes in the state and the people from these communities are oblivious to their numerical strength.

He highlighted that the backward classes communities also do not know the level of their representation in various fields and said the census will solve these riddles.

Krishna said several representatives from BC communities had campaigned for a caste census and also expressed disappointment on not knowing their numbers.

He pointed out that Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had forwarded a resolution of the Legislative Assembly to the Central government on April 11 asking it to simultaneously execute caste census along with the population census, but learnt that it would not happen anytime soon.

The state government has decided to go ahead with the BC caste census which will comprehensively enumerate backward classes region-wise, profession-wise and under other parameters such as the socio-economic status in the state.

Further, the state government will also create and email address and an app to elicit suggestions from the BC communities, including arranging round table meetings in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajamahendravaram, Kurnool and Tirupati to brainstorm with intellectuals from the backward classes communities for inputs. PTI STH GDK SS