Surviving the T-survey

They may have dreaded it, loved it or hated it, but no one ignored it. The first-ever Intensive Household Survey conducted on August 19 in the newly formed State of Telangana saw lakhs of people scurrying home. Whether they were textile workers in Surat and Bhiwandi, construction workers in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, IT employees in Pune and Bangalore, or eking out a living from menial jobs elsewhere, all those who called Telangana home made a beeline for the survey, families in tow, to inscribe their place in the government records.

For more than 20 days preceding the survey, people talked of nothing else, anxiously wondering what was in store for them, what they should reveal and what they shouldn’t. Domestic helps, auto drivers and construction labourers working in the cities were unsure whether they were expected to return to their native village or stay back in the city. No one had any answers.

With the air thick with confusion, rumours spread wildly. There were apprehensions about sharing bank account details, and other privacy concerns. In fact, some citizens even moved the High Court to challenge the survey.

The government quickly backed down and clarified that the survey was not mandatory, which prompted the court to give a go-ahead.

When the big day finally dawned, practically every street remained deserted, not least because the government had declared a public holiday and directed private concerns to shut shop. Buses were off the roads too.

Announcing the survey on August 1, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao had asked people to stay home for the day and provide the right details to help the government weed out fake beneficiaries in welfare schemes. The number of households far exceeded the number of ration cards, burning a big hole in the exchequer. “We pay salaries but we don’t have the accurate number of employees in the government,” he said.

Accurate data would help the government formulate efficient policies, he pointed out. “We all thought the population of Hyderabad is 76 lakh and has about 15 lakh households. But preliminary numbers indicate that the population crosses the 1.2-crore mark in about 20 lakh households,” he said after the survey.

About four lakh government employees and thousands of engineering students went door to door for the survey. People with roots in Telangana and living elsewhere in India or abroad feared they may be excluded from government welfare schemes if they failed to show up for the survey. Telugus with roots in Andhra Pradesh, but living in Telangana feared it was a ploy to exclude them.

Ramulu, a 30-year-old mason, had not visited his native village for close to five years. But on August 19, he arrived in Gadwal, 100km from Hyderabad, with his wife and daughter. Balachandar, who works in Bahrain, also headed home to Warangal with his family. He was among scores of migrant workers in the Gulf who timed their India visit to coincide with the survey.

Auto driver Niranjan was undecided about going to his village, where his extended family owns a small chunk of land. “Will I lose my claim on my share in the undivided landholding if I don’t go?” he wanted to know. He finally chose to stay back in Hyderabad for the survey to ensure his “family doesn’t become ineligible for welfare schemes”.

Despite having to travel all the way from Bahrain, Balachandar backs the government’s decision. “What is wrong in sharing the details? Accurate information will help the government in drafting schemes,” he says.

The survey covered 1.05 crore households, 20 lakh more than the 2011 Census. About 2.3 lakh households are yet to be covered.

Social networking sites were flooded with messages from users sharing their survey experiences. People stayed indoors all day, updating friends about the goings-on.

The timing of the survey had fuelled fears that the government was out to discriminate against natives of Andhra Pradesh. Barely weeks ago, there were moves to exclude Andhra students from the fee reimbursement scheme, triggering protests from parties in Andhra Pradesh. The draft pro forma too had queries related to nativity.

However, the final pro forma dispelled all such fears. There was nothing in it to tell people apart. There was only an optional question about the availability of birth certificate.

“Statistics hold the key for governance. Electoral rolls tell you something, Census gives you some other data. We need accurate data. Our survey is a super-hit. I am sure other States will have a look at it and emulate,” a beaming chief minister said after the survey.

There were many who refused to answer certain questions or even avoided the survey. Jana Sena President and film actor Pawan Kalyan stayed away from his Nandagiri Hills residence, indicating his unwillingness to participate in the exercise. Actress Vijayashanti too refused to take part.

And after the many days of chaos, confusion and outright indignation leading up to the survey, it was all over in minutes, said the mason Ramulu, incredulity writ large on his face.

COMMENT NOW