Telangana CM requests Centre to take quick decision on BC quota hike

The Hindu

15 hours ago

Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has requested the Central Government to take a quick decision on the passage of the Bills for enhancing reservations for Backward Classes (BC) in education, employment and political fields to 42%.
The Telangana State Assembly passed two Bills on March 17 this year enhancing the reservations for BCs to 42% in the three fields and these Bills are not prepared haphazardly. The government conducted scientific and in-depth exercise for almost a year besides spending ₹160 crore on caste census conducted for 50 days through 1.03 lakh trained enumerators. As many as 66.39% families in rural areas and 45.15 lakh in towns, a total of 1.12 crore families, are surveyed and the survey revealed that BCs constituted 56.33%.
The government sought the Centre's cooperation in implementation of the enhanced reservations.
'I once again demand the Centre from the Golconda fort to take a quick decision on the pending bills,' he said. The Chief Minister made the appeal during his Independence Day speech after hoisting the national flag at the historic fort on Friday (August 15, 2025).
In his more than one-hour address, Mr. Reddy outlined the various initiatives taken by the 'people's government' since it took over the reins in December 2023 including crop loan waiver, Indiramma houses, recruitment to vacant posts, stern action to prevent drugs and others. The government had decided to spend ₹22,500 crore on Indiramma housing scheme, 4.5 lakh houses would be constructed during the current year.
The scheme had no political involvement and beneficiaries need not pay commissions. Poverty was the only criterion to be eligible for securing the houses and the government for the first time sanctioned 22,016 houses to tribes in the ITDA areas of the State.
The Chief Minister suspected a conspiracy to make youth addicted to drugs in the last 10 years, but the government aborted it and strict measures were taken so that people would not even hear the word drugs. A new system was developed in the name of Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement (EAGLE) which wad closely monitoring every corner of the State even as strong steps were initiated to curb drug trafficking and create fear among peddlers.
Simultaneously, the government gave priority to provide employment to youth. Accordingly, the public service commission was reformed and more than 60,000 vacancies filled in just 20 months adopting a transparent mechanism in the conduct of the exams. Referring to the irrigation projects, the Chief Minister said the State government was completing pending projects with proper plans to provide irrigation water to the last ayacut of the State.
He recalled how the previous government took up Kaleshwaram project which collapsed within few years and cautioned people about vested interests that were trying to divert attention from the previous failures. 'We will not compromise in achieving our judicious share of water from Godavari and Krishna rivers. We will strategically move in that direction,' he asserted adding the government was working on strategical plans for achieving permanent rights in the utilisation of water.
Telangana's debts and arrears
Elaborating on the welfare and development projects that go hand in hand in the people's government, Mr. Reddy, however, expressed concern that the previous government left the State with mounting debts and arrears of ₹8.21 lakh crore. Of these, ₹6.71 lakh crore were debts and ₹40,154 crore were dues relating to payment for employees and other schemes and ₹1.09 lakh crore dues were on account of the SC, ST sub-plan, Singareni, electricity and other departments.
'From the total debt, we have completed debt servicing of ₹2.20 lakh crore which included ₹1.32 lakh crore principal and ₹88,178 crore interest amount till date,' he said.