Hyderabad: The state Cabinet in its meeting on Thursday is likely to discuss its plan to implement 42 per cent reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in education, employment, and local bodies and Scheduled Castes (SCs) sub-categorisation.
The Cabinet is expected to take a decision on introducing Bills in the Assembly related to enhancing reservation for BCs to 42 per cent and sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes for reservation, sources said on Tuesday.
The government is weighing options on whether to call for a special session next week or introduce the Bills in the upcoming Budget session. The Assembly is expected to convene for the Budget session after March 10.
The sources said that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had directed Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari to include these issues in the agenda for the Cabinet meeting for discussion and approval.
The Congress government has conducted a caste census to determine the population and socio-economic conditions of all castes in the state. The census, carried out between November and December 2024, was submitted to the government in early February.
The findings from the caste census will serve as a crucial foundation for increasing BC reservations. Legal hurdles will remain, as increasing it to 42 per cent would raise the overall reservations provided in Telangana to 67 per cent, which exceeds the 50 per cent cap imposed by the Supreme Court. The government plans to justify the reservation hike by presenting the census data, demonstrating the backwardness of people belonging to BC communities in education, employment, and local governance.
A one-man judicial committee was appointed to study the Supreme Court’s August 2024 judgment on SC sub-categorisation and provide recommendations. The committee’s report, submitted in February, suggested categorising 59 SC sub-castes into three groups and allocating a separate quantum of reservations to each group. However, the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) is demanding a four-group categorisation (A, B, C, D) instead of the proposed three-group system. The government’s stance on this issue will be clarified in the Cabinet meeting.