SCs, STs three times more backward than general castes: Telangana SEEEPC survey

Hyderabad: The Telangana Socio, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) Survey 2024 colloquially referred to as the 'caste census' has revealed stark gradations in deprivation across the state's caste groups. Released on Wednesday night, the findings offer a sweeping portrait of Telangana's social fabric.

Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) are three times more backward than general caste communities, while Backward Classes (BC) are 2.7 times more backward than the state average.

BCs, including those in minority Muslims, form the largest group at 56.4 per cent of the population (2,00,35,840), followed by SCs at 17.4 per cent (62,25,413), general castes at 11.9 per cent (42,42,905), and STs at 10.4 per cent (37,14,805).

Covering 97 per cent of Telangana's total population of 3.55 crore individuals the survey according to the Telangana government is empirically a census rather than a sample study, documenting each person's status, experiences, and aspirations across 75 fields of information.

"We conducted a comprehensive survey by visiting every household. A total of 1,12,36,849 families (97.10 per cent) were surveyed across the state, and details of 3,55,50,759 individuals were collected. The survey was conducted transparently with the help of one lakh government staff.

The Telangana government has set a national example with this caste census, and the Central government should take our survey data into consideration," said Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar.

A first-of-its-kind Backwardness Index

The survey's central methodological contribution is the Composite Backwardness Index (CBI), which the Independent Expert Working Group (IEWG) described as a first of its kind in India.

The CBI assigns each of the 242 castes surveyed a score between 0 and 126, calculated across 42 equally weighted parameters spanning education, occupation, income, land and asset ownership, living conditions, gender equity, social discrimination, and access to institutional credit.

Scores are calculated separately for rural and urban populations, drawing on a statistical quartile distribution to measure the distance between the most and least backward quartiles within each parameter.

A score of 126 indicates maximum backwardness across all parameters; a score of 0 indicates the opposite. The most backward caste in Telangana is SC Dakkal, with a CBI score of 116. The least backward is Kapu, at 12. As groups, SCs scored 96, STs 95, BCs 86, and general castes 31.

Of the 242 castes, 135 comprising 69 BCs, 41 SCs, and 25 STs scored above the state CBI average of 81, together accounting for 67 per cent of the total population. The data shows that 99 per cent of STs, 97 per cent of SCs, and 71 per cent of BCs belong to communities more backward than the state average.

All 18 general caste communities fall below the state average, indicating relative prosperity. It bears emphasis that the CBI is a relative measure of backwardness among social groups within Telangana, and does not speak to absolute deprivation or comparisons with communities elsewhere in the country.

The expert group behind the analysis

In March 2025, the government of Telangana constituted a nine-member Independent Expert Working Group (IEWG) to verify, analyse, interpret, and present the survey's findings. Justice B Sudershan Reddy, a former Supreme Court judge, was appointed Chairman; Prof Kancha Ilaiah, former Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, was named Vice Chairman; and Praveen Chakravarty, visiting professor at Ashoka University and All India Chairman of the Data Analytics and Professionals' wings of the Indian National Congress, served as Convenor.

Prof Jean Drèze, development economist; Prof. Thomas Piketty, scholar on inequality; and Prof Julia Cage of Sciences Po participated as special invitees. The conceptual framework underlying the Composite Backwardness Index was significantly shaped by the inputs of this international trio.