Govt to introduce BC Caste Census Bill in budget session: Ponnam

Disclosing this to the media at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday, Ponnam said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had entrusted him with supervising the process of preparing the draft Bill that would be presented in the Assembly.

Hyderabad: Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said the State government would introduce the BC Caste Census Bill in the upcoming budget session of the Assembly.

Disclosing this to the media at Gandhi Bhavan on Wednesday, Ponnam said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had entrusted him with supervising the process of preparing the draft Bill that would be presented in the Assembly.

---

The Congress government was committed towards conducting the BC Caste Census in the State and seriously working on it to introduce the Bill in the Budget Session, he said, adding that a caste census would help the government design welfare schemes based on the population of various castes and help in delivering the benefits of the welfare schemes to the targeted sections.

Officials have asked to prepare a draft Bill based on the process being followed in Bihar and other States where caste-based surveys have been undertaken, he said. “We will adopt the best procedures of conducting Caste Census which will benefit the BC communities. Will take the suggestions of retired judges and civil servants too,”he said.

The Bihar government completed a two-phase caste survey four months ago, revealing that 63 percent of the State’s population belonged to Backward Classes.

Similarly, the Karnataka government conducted a Caste Census under the banner of socioeconomic and education survey last year. Even the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has also initiated a similar process.