Data under caste survey will be confidential, assures Telangana govt

Hyderabad, Nov  (IANS) A comprehensive door-to-door socio, educational, economic, employment, political, and caste survey began across Telangana on Wednesday with the government assuring the citizens that the data gathered by enumerators will be kept confidential.

Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said the information gathered by the enumerators from the public during the survey would be kept confidential.

Appealing to people not to worry, he urged them to furnish information to the enumerators without any apprehensions.

The survey is being conducted under the aegis of the Planning Department to plan and implement various socioeconomic, educational, employment and political opportunities for the amelioration of Backwards Classes, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe citizens and other weaker sections of the state.

Nearly 95,000 enumerators and 10,000 supervisors are carrying out the survey. In the first phase, which began on Wednesday and will continue till Friday (Nov 8), a list of families with house numbers and head of the family will be prepared and a sticker will be passed on every house.

Under the second phase beginning on November 9, a comprehensive household survey will be taken up.

Primary school teachers and employees of other government departments have been appointed as enumerators for the survey.

The department has created 87,092 enumeration blocks with 150 to 175 families in each block. One enumerator has been allotted for each block and for every 10 enumerators there is one supervisor.

The state has a total of 1,17,44,954 families. There are 28,32,490 families and 19,328 blocks in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits.

Teams of enumerators will go door to door in all the districts to gather information about caste, education, and socio-economic status of the families.

Ministers and public representatives inaugurated the survey in various districts on Wednesday.

The enumerators will gather details under 75 questions. These also include information about profession, income, assets and debts and number of people in each household. The families were also asked if anybody was employed abroad or migrated to any other states for jobs. The enumerators were also asking if any of the family members were elected as people’s representatives.

Minister for Information Technology and Industry D. Sridhar Babu, who inaugurated the survey in Rangareddy district, appealed to people to cooperate in the survey. He said some people were spreading rumours that because of the survey families would lose their ration cards and Arogyasri cards. He appealed to the public not to believe these rumours.

Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said people should voluntarily provide the information. He said no documents would be collected during the survey.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy met Governor Jishnu Dev Varma and briefed him about the survey which began across the state on Wednesday. He explained the details regarding the official process adopted for the survey.

The Chief Minister told the Governor the Telangana state will stand as a role model for the country in the survey of socio-economic, educational, employment, political and caste composition.

The Chief Minister requested the Governor to bring the survey, launched by the state government, to the attention of the union government and take the state survey into consideration during the national census which is being launched in 2025 across the country.