The Congress Government in Telangana has passed a bill in the Assembly seeking to increase the reservations for BCs to 42 per cent from the present level of 25 per cent. 

Addressing the Assembly on Monday, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said the decision has been taken as a follow-up to the Caste Census that was conducted in the State recently.

Pegging the population of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the State at 56.36 per cent, he asked G Kishen Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the two Ministers in the NDA Government at the Centre, to arrange for an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the 42 per cent reservations to BCs a reality.

“Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made the promise of an increase in reservations to BCs if the party is voted to power. Soon after assuming power, we conducted the Caste Census to determine the exact percentage of BCs in the State,” he said.

42% reservation

“The previous government sent a proposal to the Governor seeking to increase the BC reservations to 37 percent.  We have decided to withdraw that proposal and send a fresh proposal to provide 42 per cent reservation to the backward classes,” the Chief Minister said.

Appealing to the leaders of all political parties to join hands and meet the Prime Minister to take the proposal forward. “It is the responsibility of all of us to ensure the bill is adopted by Parliament,” he said.

The House also passed the SC classification bill.

Meanwhile, he launched the Rajiv Yuva Vikasam scheme that seeks to provide self-employment opportunities to over 5 lakh youth. He said the Government would spend ₹6,000 crore to roll out the scheme.

“We have so far recruited 57,000 people in various roles in the last 15 months,” he said.

Published on March 17, 2025