The state government has issued guidelines for the caste census undertaken by the Andhra Pradesh government. It has been mentioned in the order that caste census is being conducted to effectively implement the government schemes.
The government has said that it has been undertaken with the intention of weighing up the socio-economic conditions of the people in the state and helping in the design and implementation of welfare schemes. The Chief Secretary to the Government has issued an order issuing guidelines to enable the survey to be conducted.
It explained that Rs.2.37 lakh crores have been diverted into the accounts of 8.22 crore beneficiaries through direct cash transfer schemes in AP. The government feels that the lack of complete information about the disadvantaged groups has become a problem in the implementation of the schemes.
The government has explained that due to the lack of information about OBCs and other sub-castes in the population census, it is not possible to design suitable schemes for them. The state government hopes that through caste census, there is an opportunity to identify the deficiencies and formulate the necessary welfare schemes for them.
The state government has stated in the guidelines that it had previously resolved in the legislative assembly also asking the central government to do the caste census as part of the census.
It was announced that the committee appointed by the government after studying the caste census conducted in Bihar has given a report, according to which the proposal given by the committee to conduct an integrated caste census in AP has been approved.
It has been revealed that social, economic, education, employment and other factors will be recorded as part of the caste census process. It has been clarified that the planning department and gram ward secretariat department will be the nodal department for survey management.