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The Hindu
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Composite Backwardness Index of BCs to be gauged on a scale of Zero to 126
In what could be a paradigm shift in India's approach to social justice, the outcome of the caste survey of the Telangana government is focussing on the backwardness of castes on a scale of 'Zero to 126' independent of their population size. The 11-member Expert Working Group headed by former Supreme Court Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy set up by the government to analyse and interpret data from the caste survey, has come up with a new concept — Composite Backwardness Index (CBI) — to scientifically quantify the backwardness of castes. The foundation of the report is the huge data compiled from over 3.5 crore residents of Telangana responding to 74 questions covering aspects ranging from education and income to housing, landholding, and experiences of discrimination. 'This is a data revolution,' argues Praveen Chakravarthy, Member Convenor of the Expert Committee consisting of social scientists, economists, statisticians and those who understand the soul of Telangana. 'Earlier, it was assumed that larger the population of a social group meant that group was more backward. But now, focus is on, how backward is a caste in real, measurable terms?' he told The Hindu in an interaction. Mr. Chakravarthy, who is one of the architects of the CBI, says it is a first-of-its-kind metric designed and used in the world to objectively evaluate social and economic disparities. Evaluating Telangana's most exhaustive caste-related survey in India's history was a big task, he said, recalling that the landmark Mandal Commission survey conducted in the 1980s covered only 50 lakh people with 11 questions. To identify true indicators of backwardness the committee performed statistical significance tests across the responses shortlisting 42 indicators across nine categories, including education, living conditions, land ownership, income, access to technology, and social discrimination. Respondents answered questions such as: 'Do you face discrimination in temples?'; 'Do your children attend English-medium schools?'; 'Do you own a vehicle, smartphone, or live in a pucca house?' and 'Do you borrow from moneylenders?' each of which fed into a scoring model. Mr. Chakravarthy explained that each caste was ranked on a scale from 0 to 126 points, with the higher the score, the greater the level of backwardness. The data was analysed through quartile distribution, placing every caste into one of four buckets based on their aggregate scores. The report, expected to be submitted to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, in two weeks, will provide rankings for all the 245 surveyed castes. Mr. Chakravarthy feels the government should release the data in an aggregated form for public use, while protecting individual privacy. Independent researchers should use Artificial Intelligence tools to extract deeper insights to build upon the findings. 'Let people challenge it statistically and academically. It's open data self-reported by the people of Telangana,' says Mr. Chakravarthy. The report aims to disentangle caste-based backwardness from general poverty. Poverty is universal. But caste-based poverty is historical, he points out. Can the CBI model be replicated in the caste census that the Government of India announced recently? The model remains effective despite the disparities among BCs given the unique social structure in the respective States. Mr. Chakravarthy summarises that just like the GDP for economic growth or the Sensex for the stock market, the CBI can be a scientific index for social equity.
The Hindu
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Telangana Expert Group finalises method for measuring caste-based disparities from the caste survey
The Telangana government's Expert Working Group, led by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Sudarshan Reddy, has decided to present as an ordinal ranking, indicating the relative backwardness of each sub-caste while measuring social and economic disparities among the downtrodden. The Working Group constituted by the government was tasked with studying and interpreting the extensive data collected through the 2024 Social Education Employment Economic Political Caste (SEEEPC) Survey. The group, which met in New Delhi on Thursday (May 22, 2025) for its fourth meeting, decided to finalise the methodology for measuring social and economic disparities across sub-castes in the State using a Composite Backwardness Index (CBI). The CBI will provide a numerical and objective score for each sub-caste, derived using 43 key parameters from the SEEEPC data. These parameters span seven categories — social status, education, living standards, occupation, income, assets (movable and immovable), and access to banking and finance. The data will be analysed separately for rural and urban areas to study subtle disparities. The approach builds upon the methodology used by the Mandal Commission, which relied on just 11 parameters. The group has also urged the government to develop a natural language interface powered by Artificial Intelligence to allow researchers to interact with the SEEEPC dataset in aggregate form, without compromising individual privacy. This would enable broader academic and policy analysis based on one of India's most detailed socio-economic datasets, the meeting felt. After three meetings in Hyderabad, the meeting in New Delhi marked a key milestone as the group reached a consensus on the statistical model and framework of the CBI. The next and final meeting of the Expert Group will be held soon to approve the report and finalise its submission. The SEEEPC Survey is a pioneering effort covering 3.55 crore individuals across 243 sub-castes. Of the 243 sub-castes enumerated, 73 sub-castes make up 96% of Telangana's population, including ten Scheduled Castes (SCs), seven Scheduled Tribes (STs), 45 Backward Classes (BCs), and eleven Other Castes (OCs). The survey also provided the option of 'No Caste' and 'Others' for those not fitting into existing classifications. The Expert Group comprises nine full-time members and several special invitees, experts in sociology, economics, caste studies, history, law, policy, statistics, and related domains, all serving in an honorary capacity.
