Telangana caste survey: Lingayats in fix after being listed in BC, OC categories
A big confusion was created by listing `Lingayat’ in BC and OC categories
Published on
14 Nov 2024 10:01 AM
Hyderabad,
Nov 13: Socio-economic survey has raised hackles among a section of people over
the gathering of personal information. Opposition BRS has joined the chorus to
flay the exercise.
What has,
however, created a big confusion was listing `Lingayat’ in BC and OC
categories.
Among the
various castes under survey is the Veerashaiva Lingayat / Lingabalija community
which has been given code 115 and listed in BC D group in the list of backward
castes notified by the government.
In the same
booklet carried by enumerators, another Lingayat community with code 011 OC
(other castes) or forward caste is mentioned, creating a stir among the
community members.
TVLF
stumped
Stumped at
the `wrong listing’, former MP and Telangana Veerashaiva Lingayat Federation
(TVLF) chairman BB Patil, an apex body of over 175 organizations of the
community in Telangana petitioned Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, BC Welfare
Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Telangana State BC Commission chairman G Niranjan
with a request to delete `Lingayat’ community with code 011 in OC category and
retain only Veerashaiva Lingayat/Lingabalija BC D Group, which has been
officially recognized in the State.
However,
Minister Ponnam Prabhakar and senior officials expressed helplessness at this
juncture since it has been listed in the books given to enumerators and
requested the community members to caution their members!
TVLF vice
chairman Madapu Veeramallesh, President B Hanumanthu, and General Secretary
Malkapuram Shivakumar met Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, BC Commission chairman G
Niranjan and others with a request to delete “Lingayat OC with code 011 from
the list and ensure only Veerashaiva Lingayat/Lingabalija which is the
recognized community in Telangana State. Any wrong mention could lead to the
denial of government benefits/schemes in various sectors including education.
“We were
stumped at the listing of just the Lingayat community. It did not exist since
Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy listed Veerashaiva Lingayat/Linga Balija in the list of
backward classes in D Group. No one can answer as to how it has been listed
among the list of castes now,” M Shiva Kumar, TVLF General Secretary and
District Cooperative Marketing Societies Chairman, combined Medak district told
Newsmeter.
Madapu
Veeramallesh said the community faced similar problems in the past leading to a
drastic reduction in its population in official records.
“In the past
surveys, especially during KCR rule, the community members listed Balija, etc.
whom they are called locally in villages instead of officially listed
Veerashaiva Lingayat / Lingabalija. This led to low population which is not the
case.”
He added,
“In fact, there is only Veerashaiva Lingayat community in Telangana State. Lingabalija
are known in the Rayalaseema region including Pulivendla, Kadapa hence it was
added by YSR in undivided AP.”
40 lakh
Veerashaiva Lingayat
There are
nearly 40 lakh Veerashaiva Lingayat / Lingabalija, a veggie community, across
Telangana, a big chunk of them in undivided Mahbubnagar, Ranga Reddy, Medak,
Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Hyderabad district.
In the
country, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh have
a large Veerashaiva Lingayat population besides other states.
In various
GOs in undivided Andhra Pradesh and after the bifurcation of the State and
formation of Telangana, Veerashaiva Lingayat / Lingabalija is listed in the BC
D group.
In the GOMs
No. 3 of Backward Classes Welfare (B) department dated 9.9.2020 in the list of
socially and educationally backward classes for Telangana State, they are
listed at No 46.
Though the
community was included in the BC D Group way back in 2009 by late Chief
Minister Dr. Y S Rajasekhar Reddy at the request of community members including
present Zaheerabad MP Suresh Shetkar and others like Jukkal ex-MLA Gangaram
Soudagar, it is now facing a new problem.
Enumerators
undertaking door-to-door surveys as facing daunting questions from the
households. An enumerator narrated an incident in Sangareddy. “The households
asked what additional benefits they get if they provided information. I told
them that the survey is aimed at ensuring benefits to all the deprived
sections. They are not satisfied,” she said.
The
questionnaire contains assigned codes to a total of 243 castes including upper
castes. The family is supposed to indicate the code number corresponding to
their caste in the questionnaire.
According to
the booklet, there are 59 castes given codes in the SC category, 32 in the ST
category, 18 in the OC (other castes) category, and the remaining in the BC
sub-categories of A, B, C, D, and E.
Backward
Class codes are highest in number with 134 while Jains and Buddhists are
classified as forward castes. Christian converts from Scheduled Castes have
also been categorized as BC-C etc.
According to
another enumerator, large-scale inter-caste marriages took place in the past
decade and more are taking place in the State, especially in urban areas and
metro cities like Hyderabad. Choosing caste has also become tricky in such
cases
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