The Telangana government has made public the detailed findings of the caste survey it carried out in 2024. The Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) Survey’s findings reveal that Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are three times more backward than General Castes or Open Category castes in the state. Backward Classes were found to be 2.7 times more backward than the General Castes.
The survey found that only 6.27 lakh households (5.6%) reported that a family member had opted for an inter-caste marriage. An overwhelming 95% of families in Telangana continue to marry within their castes/communities, the survey found.
Of the 3.55 crore people surveyed, nearly 3% of them (12 lakh people) did not disclose their caste, choosing the ‘No Caste’ option. This group was found to be among the least backward groups of Telangana, ahead in most parameters.
Among the most prosperous castes are Reddy, Karanam, Komati, Patnayaks, Varma, OC Christians, Brahmins, Iyengars/Iyers, Kamma, Velama, Raju, Jains and Kapu.
The most backward castes were sub-castes of SCs, STs, or BC Muslims.
Measuring backwardness
Backwardness of each community was measured through a Composite Backwardness Index (CBI), a concept introduced by a nine-member Independent Expert Working Group (IEWG) asked to verify, analyse, interpret and present the findings of the SEEEPC.
Headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice B Sudershan Reddy, the group included political theorist Kancha Ilaiah, academic and Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty, economist and academic Sukhadeo Thorat, former Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Shantha Sinha, history professor Bhangya Bhukya, environmentalist Purushotham Reddy, economics professor Himanshu, activist Nikhil Dey. Prominent economists Jean Drèze, Thomas Piketty, and Julia Cagé were special invitees to the working group.
The survey covered 97% of the state’s population, according to the government. The working group ranked each of the total 242 castes in the state based on this index and found that the SC Dakkal community was the most backward, with a CBI score of 116. Kapus were found to be the least backward caste in the state, with a CBI score of 12.
The CBI is based on 42 indicators around education, occupation, income, assets, living conditions, debt, and signs of gender and caste bias, such as child marriage of girls, sex ratio, and inter-caste marriages. These were based on self-reported responses.
The results were “remarkably consistent with sociologically, anthropologically and historically accepted wisdom of the role of caste and inequity in Telangana society,” the working group’s report said, adding that the “CBI is a numerical validation of a sociological belief.”
The CBI scores range from 0 to 126, with a higher score indicating more backwardness.
The average CBI score for Telangana came out to 81.
Of the total 242 castes, 135 communities comprising 67% of the state’s population had a score higher than 81, which means they were more backward than the average person in the state.
Of these 135 castes with a below average score, 69 are BCs, 41 are SCs and 25 are STs. All the 18 castes under the General Caste category had a score lower than 81, which means they were all less backward than the average person.
Among the population, 99% of STs, 97% of SCs and 71% of BCs are more backward than the state average.
The 'No Caste' group of 12 lakh people had a CBI score of 48.
However, the working group notes that the CBI doesn’t measure the representation of each caste in positions of power, business, jobs, and different walks of society. “This is an important factor that must be overlaid with this report for any comprehensive analysis of caste disparities and backwardness and to prescribe targeted policy actions as remedial measures,” it said.
Who benefits from government schemes
The survey found that 30% of Telangana’s welfare expenditure is going to relatively prosperous castes that are less backward than the state average.
The survey looked at schemes such as incentives for landed farmers, crop loan waivers, government housing, pensions, LPG subsidies, free bus travel for women, free domestic electricity, and the Kalyana Lakshmi/Shaadi Mubarak scheme of financial assistance for marriages of SC, ST, BC and minority women.
The budget allocation towards these 11 schemes for the financial year 2025-26 comes up to over Rs 1 lakh crore. They have 2.54 crore (non-unique) beneficiaries.
The survey found that over 70% of the beneficiaries come from the 135 castes, which were more backward than average.
Among these relatively more backward beneficiaries, SCs generally avail schemes such as housing subsidies and free bus travel for women more often. However, in schemes meant for landed farmers, SCs were under-represented relative to their population, which is likely due to lower land ownership patterns according to the working group.
For instance, the Telangana government proposes to spend over Rs 30,000 crore on agricultural schemes such as Rythu Barosa and free electricity to farmers.
But 15% of these beneficiaries are people from the more prosperous General Castes, while only 12% are SCs, even though they are far greater in number and thrice as backward as the General Castes, the working group’s report said. The survey found the total SC population to be around 62 lakh and the total General Caste population to be around 56 lakh.
On the other hand, 20% of free bus travel beneficiaries were found to be SC women, while less than 10% were General Caste women.
Disparities among SC, ST, BC and General categories
Overall, just 56 castes with a minimum population of 50,000 people each accounted for 90% of the state’s population. Based on their analysis, the working group shared many insights into the socio-economic status of the SC, ST, BC, and General Caste groups.
> Nearly half of SCs in the workforce are daily wage labourers, while only one-tenth of people from General Caste are in this occupation.
> 30% of private sector professionals are from General Castes. Only 5% are STs.
> One-third of children from the General Castes have access to private schools compared to less than 10% of SC and ST children.
> One-third of ST families live in homes with no toilet or tap water compared to only 5% of General Caste households.
The working group has also measured backwardness across categories such as education, occupation, etc.
SCs and STs were the most backward in education overall, with General Castes much ahead.
In terms of occupation, SCs, STs and BCs were overrepresented among daily wage workers and NREGA workers, while General Castes were more represented among business owners and government or private sector employees compared to their population share.
A similar pattern was also observed in living conditions, where the proportion of ST households having no electricity is twice that of Telangana's average, and that of ST households with no toilets is five times that of Telangana's average.
Telangana SEEEPC Survey 2024Kancha Ilaiah noted that the survey shows a high percentage of STs own land, largely dry and unirrigated land.
“However, despite the large land ownership, scheduled tribes remain at the bottom of the social pyramid in many other parameters. A significantly high share of Dalit Christians who come under the BC-C group, with just one per cent reservation, are English-medium educated. In most of the parameters used for computing CBI, this group of Dalit Christians (BC-C) and OC (General Castes) Christians, rank among the least backward, similar to those in the General Caste category,” he said in the working group’s report, adding, “The entire report shows that human developmental processes, even in a once backward identity group, have shifted from land centrality to education centrality."
BC-C SC Christians had a backwardness score of 44 according to the survey. OC Christians had a score of 23.
The survey recorded wide disparities even within backward social groups, such as:
> Within BCs, nearly 75% of youth in Goldsmith and Padmasali castes are English medium educated compared to less than 30% of youth in Mudiraj, Valmiki or Pitchiguntla castes.
> On average, people of the Mala Sale caste, a sub-caste of the Mala SC community, own three times larger land than those in the Mahar SC community.
> Three times more children of the Gond tribe drop out of school than children of the Lambadi tribe.
The Telangana government had earlier only shared the caste-wise population details found in the survey before appointing the working group to study the data further.
Caste-wise population of Telangana as per the census:
SCs - 61,84,319 (17.43%)
STs - 37,05,929 (10.45 %)
BCs (excluding Muslims) - 1,64,09,179 (46.25 %)
BC Muslims - 35,76,588 (10.08 %)
Open Category Muslims - 8,80,424 (2.48 %)
Open Category (excluding Muslims) - 47,21,115 (13.31%)
Muslims (total) - 44,57,012 (12.56%)
Open Category (total) - 56,01,539 (15.79%)