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An expert working group that was constituted to analyse and interpret the Telangana government’s ambitious Social Education Employment Economic Political Caste (SEEEPC) Survey has come up with a unique feature to gauge the backwardness of the 243 sub-castes in the state. In a report, expected to be submitted to the Telangana government within a few weeks, the expert group has introduced the concept of a ‘Composite Backwardness Index’ (CBI) based on the aggregate data in the SEEEPC survey.
Launched on November 6, 2024, the SEEEPC survey covered 3.55 crore people in Telangana, collecting 75 fields of information ranging from demography, caste, assets, living conditions, discrimination, education, etc. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy released partial findings of the survey on February 4 this year. Amidst growing demand to release the full data, the Telangana government, in March, formed an expert working group, headed by retired judge Justice Sudarshan Reddy, to analyse the data.
Speaking to TNM, convenor of the expert group Praveen Chakravarty said the CBI would mark a fundamental change by redirecting the focus from population share to the level of backwardness. He said the CBI of each of the 243 sub-castes will be measured through quartile based statistical analysis using 42 parameters from the SEEEPC data. The expert group has come up with an index that ranges from 0 to 126 to measure backwardness.
“The index is being prepared in a vigorous statistical manner. Each of the 243 sub-castes will get an index score. We have taken up to 42 parameters, covering topics such as living conditions, education, land, assets, discrimination faced at places of worship, etc. For each parameter, there is a score from 0 to 3 (with 3 being the most backward),” Praveen said.
Giving an example, he explained, “Consider the parameter of illiteracy in a scheduled tribe sub-caste and general category sub-caste. If the level of illiteracy in a scheduled tribe sub-caste is high, it will get a score of 3 and if it is low in a general category sub-caste, it will get zero points. If one sub-caste is the most backward in all the parameters, it will get 3 points for each parameter, which would earn it a total score of 126 (42x3). Similarly, if one particular sub-caste is the least backward in all parameters, it will get zero points.”
Of the total 243, 73 sub-castes constitute 96% of the entire population of Telangana. These include 10 sub-castes under Scheduled Castes, seven sub-castes under Scheduled Tribes, 45 sub-castes under Backward Classes (BC), and 11 sub-castes under Other Castes.
Praveen said that the backwardness index was the first of its kind in India, and probably in the world. “Backwardness is an intangible idea. I don’t, for a minute, say that one number will represent all backwardness. It may not. Humans try to make sense of complex ideas with numbers, for example GDP for economics or body temperature for fever. So if progress can be measured using GDP, backwardness, which is its opposite, can be too,” he added.
Praveen said that the CBI would help bring clarity on the targeted interventions needed to resolve the caste-based inequalities and disparities existing in society. “This is a fundamental shift from share of population to level of backwardness. Rahul Gandhi’s slogan ‘jitni abadi utna haq’ (the rights of a group are proportionate to its share in population) was based on population share. After Telangana, this will be changed to ‘jitni pichda utni madad’ (the support to a group should be proportionate to its backwardness),” he added.
‘Make the data public’
One of the major criticisms faced by the Congress government in Telangana after the completion of the caste survey was over its reluctance to release the full data for the public. The expert working group, following its fourth meeting on May 22, sent a letter to the Telangana government urging it to release the aggregate data to the public, without compromising on individual privacy.
“We have recommended that the Telangana government make the SEEEPC data public in aggregate level, not individual level, without sacrificing privacy so that anybody can use the parameters and come up with their own index,” Praveen said.
The expert group has also recommended that the Telangana government provide a ChatGPT-style natural language interface using Artificial Intelligence to the SEEEPC dataset in aggregate form. “So if you want to know which sub-caste has the most land, you should be able to query it and get that answer,” he said.
The SEEEPC survey had triggered controversy regarding an alleged undercounting of the percentage of backward classes population. As per the survey, BCs comprise 46.25% of the population. However, in the Comprehensive Household Survey (CHS) conducted by Telangana in 2024, the BC population was 52%. This fall in share of population, despite a population growth, had raised questions of possible undercounting or manipulation of data. However, Praveen denied the possibility of manipulation or error in the data.
“This is 3.55 crore data of 75 fields of information. We went through every single one of the aggregate data. We didn’t have access to the individual data. The committee of experts came to the conclusion that this was a rigorously done, scientific survey with data that matches standards of academic quality. If there are errors as alleged, why will the Telangana government appoint a committee of independent experts? None of us are from this state,” he added.
When asked about the figures in comparison with the CHS, he replied that no one has seen the report. “Where is the CHS report? Where is the data? What is the methodology? No one has seen that,” he said.
Praveen, who is chairperson of the All India Professionals’ Congress, also refused to comment on the outcome of the caste survey conducted in Karnataka and Bihar.
Calling the SEEEPC a rigorously done caste census in the history of independent India, Praveen said that the scale is completely different from the Mandal Commission report. “That was a remarkable achievement in 1979. But it was not a census, it was a sample survey of 50 lakh people from the entire country and 11 parameters were analysed,” he said.
Activists and economists such as Jean Dreze, Prof Kancha Ilaiah, Prof Himanshu, Prof Shantha Sinha, Nikhil Dey, Dr Sukhadeo Thorat, Prof Bhangya Bhukya, Prof Purushotham Reddy, and some from outside India, such as French economist Thomas Piketty, are part of the expert working group.