Hyderabad: The Telangana Assembly passed the Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Bill, 2025, during the special Assembly session held on Tuesday, March 18.
Telangana health minister Damodar Raja Narasimha said that the categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SC) was being carried out based on social backwardness and preferential treatment for SC communities that have remained disadvantaged for decades.
Speaking during the discussion on the Bill, he said that categorisation was not the ultimate solution but an instrument for the betterment of disadvantaged SC communities. “It needs financial assistance, education and skill development, house sites, and industrial policies in favour of SCs to eliminate socio-economic backwardness of the SC communities,” he said.
He stated that 1,78,914 SCs were being impacted by the categorisation, covering 24 SC communities that make up only 3.43 percent of the total SC population.
The categorisation was carried out in three groups:
Referring to the Supreme Court’s judgment on preferential treatment for the most backward sections, Narasimha said that although the 1.71 lakh people in the first group were supposed to get just 0.5% reservation based on their population proportion, the government allocated an additional 0.5% due to their ‘intensive backwardness’.
He also cited recommendations from the Lokur Committee (1965), Justice Ramachandra Raju Commission (1998), Usha Mehra Commission, and the Supreme Court judgment on August 1, 2024, which paved the way for SC categorisation in Telangana.
Within six months of the judgment, the Telangana government enacted the SC categorisation legislation after forming a cabinet sub-committee and appointing retired Justice Shameem Akhter to lead a one-man commission.
Addressing concerns over caste reclassification, Narasimha cited the Budiga Janga caste, which was placed in the first group due to its low literacy rate and marginalisation, despite having a population of 1,11,000. He explained that having only two groups would create imbalance, while four groups were deemed unnecessary by the commission.
CPI MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Reddy raised concerns about the Rella community, previously in Category A, now placed in the third group, despite its work in scavenging and sanitation. He urged the government to reconsider its classification.
AIMIM MLA Majid Hussain suggested increasing SC reservations to 18 percent and introducing four categories instead of three.
Congress MLA G Vivek Venkat Swamy supported increasing SC reservations to 18 percent and demanded that 18 percent of the budget be allocated for SC welfare. He also proposed:
Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy assured that families of martyrs who died in the SC categorisation movement would be given priority in welfare schemes like the Indiramma Housing Scheme and Rajiv Yuva Vikasam.
He reaffirmed that the government would implement policies transparently and rectify past mistakes while ensuring no injustice is done to any SC community.
