Caste census, removing 50% cap on reservations central to vision for country: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday asserted that a nationwide caste survey and the lifting of the Supreme Court's "arbitrary ceiling" of 50 per cent on reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes are central to its vision for the country.

Congress general secretary in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X that the party's government in Telangana will begin its caste survey on Saturday.

He said 80,000 enumerators will be going door to door over the next few weeks, covering over 1.17 crore households across 33 districts.

This is the first time a caste-based survey is being conducted by the government in Telangana since 1931, Ramesh said.

"It is a historic, revolutionary moment -- one that is a realisation of the Telangana Movement's aspirations for the state and a fulfillment of one of the key ideals of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution," the Congress general secretary said.

It is also, as Rahul Gandhi noted in Hyderabad earlier this week, a blueprint for the national caste survey that the I.N.D.I.A. coalition's government will conduct, he said.

"This census, and the lifting of the Supreme Court's arbitrary ceiling of 50 per cent on reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes are central to Congress' vision for the country," Ramesh said.

"We are committed to the idea of social, political and economic justice in India, as laid out in our Constitution and as envisioned by India's founding fathers," he asserted.

Gandhi, who attended a meeting organised by Telangana Congress on the caste survey on November 5, had said he was fully committed to ensuring the caste survey in Telangana.