Report of A.P. Commission for Backward Classes Welfare Reports/PDF… · special provisions for...

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REPORT OF A.P.COMMISSION FOR BACKWARD CLASSES I. INTRODUCTION

The Govt. of Andhra Pradesh vide G.O.Ms.No.57, B.C.W. (C2) Dept.

Dt. 18-11-2004 reconstituted the body of A.P. commission for Backward

Classes headed by Justice Dalava Subrahmanyam as Chairman for a term of

three years. The Commission began to function from 22-11-2004. The term

of the Commission was extended by another 6 months as per G.O.Ms.No. 32,

BCW (C2) Dept., dt. 6.12.2007. On expiry of the extended term, the body of

the Commission was reconstituted in G.O.Ms No. 55 B.C. Welfare (C2) Dept,

dated 23-09-2008 and started functioning from 25-09-2008. By the time the

commission was reconstituted during November 2004 several representations

for inclusion of certain communities were pending before the Commission.

As the matter stands thus, the National Commission for Backward Classes

recognized certain castes of A.P. in the central list which were pending before

the Commission.

Taking into consideration of the past experience, the Commission

resolved to take up the requests in piece-meal, as it was not possible to

submit its report with regard to all castes or communities at a time.

Hence the Commission at its meeting held on 22-3-2006 resolved to

examine the representations of the castes pending before this Commission

which are predominantly concentrated in limited areas with less population.

Accordingly the Commission issued a notification on 31-3-2006 which was

published in A.P. Gazette dated 13-04-2006 calling for representations,

objections and suggestions for inclusion of 36 Castes / Communities and

again some more communities were also notified from time to time.

After issue of Notification, public hearings were held with regard to

these castes and the Commission took up household sample survey to assess

the socio, educational, employment and economic conditions and to assess

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whether they are fit to be included in the list of Backward Classes or not. The

Caste representatives appeared before the Commission during the public

hearings and represented before the Commission for inclusion in the list

of Backward Classes.

The Commission also took into consideration of the findings contained

in Anthropological Survey of India contained in people of India, A.P. series.

Article 15(4) of the Constitution of India enables the State to make

special provisions for advancement of any socially and educationally backward

class of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Article

16(4) of the Constitution also enables the State to make special provisions for

reservations of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of

citizens, which in the opinion of the State is not adequately represented in the

services under the State. The expression “Socially and Educationally

Backward Classes of citizens” used in Article 15 (4) and 16 (4) are not defined

in the Constitution. In order to recognize a particular community or caste,

its social and educational backwardness is to be determined.

The Commission deputed a survey team to conduct household sample

survey of the communities in question. The commission adopted a

questionnaire for identification of social, educational, employment and

economic backwardness. The survey team collected data on the social

status, occupation aspects of discrimination, economic status, details of

properties held, amenities enjoyed, literacy and education level etc. The

data regarding the workers and non-workers was also collected. The said

information gathered was compiled and included in the survey report.

The Commission considered the representations submitted by the

representatives and material papers filed by them, findings of Anthropological

Survey of India, random sample survey reports and personal observations of

the Commission to decide whether a particular class/caste is fit to be included

in the list of Backward Classes or not and discussed herein:

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II. CRITERIA TO IDENTIFY A BACKWARD CLASS OF CITIZENS

The commission examined and discussed the criteria to be adopted for

the purpose of determining the educational, employment and social

backwardness. To identify a particular caste as a backward class for the

purpose of Articles 15 (4) and 16(4) of the constitution of India that particular

caste must be both educationally and socially backward. The Mandal

commission adopted certain criteria, which was followed by the later

commissions. This commission also followed the principles laid down by the

then Anantaraman commission and Mandal commission.

This commission adopted the criteria i.e., (1) social, (2) educational,

(3) employment, (4) economic and (5) political status of each community to

identify whether a particular caste or community is a backward class of

citizens or not as discussed below.

1. Social backwardness: - For the purpose of determining social

backwardness, the commission examined the traditional occupation in

practice, self perception of the occupation, treatment of occupation by

others, social discrimination, sectoral distribution and other factors

such as the place of habitation in Kutcha / Hut, whether the facilities

like telephone, electricity, latrine, drinking water are available within

their premises. Social customs such as child marriages, widow

marriages, divorce and child labour are prevalent or in practice.

2. Educational backwardness: - With regard to educational

backwardness the literacy rate when compared to the state literacy

level, percentage of matriculation passed, percentage of school

dropouts etc. were taken into account.

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3. Employment backwardness: - It is considered as employment

backwardness, if the representation in employment of the community

people surveyed is less than or equal to 1% in the Govt. services, if the

representation in employment of the community people is less than or

equal to 2% in the private sector, if the female work force of the

community is 50% or above engaged in economic activity, if

percentage of total workers of the community who are engaged in

agricultural labour and non-agricultural labour is equal or above the

state the total workers.

4. Economic Status: - With regard to economic status, the

commission considered if the majority of rural community is below the

poverty line i.e., Rs.18000/- P.A. or the majority of urban community is

below the poverty line i.e., Rs.24000/- P.A. or the majority of the rural

community is below per capita income of Rs.3750/- or the majority of

the urban community is below the per capita income of Rs.5000/-.

5. Political Status: - To determine the political status of the

community if no ward member of their caste is elected in the areas

where the households are surveyed, weightage points are given.

The commission adopted the principles laid down in Mandal case and

the data available with the commission are considered caste wise. The

commission followed the principles enunciated in several decisions of the

Apex court to arrive at the right conclusion.

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III. METHODOLOGY FOLLOWED BY THE COMMISSION

There were representations of castes and communities pending for

inclusion from several castes and communities by the time the commission

was reconstituted. The commission in its meeting held on 22-03-2006

resolved to examine certain castes, which are predominantly concentrated in

limited areas with less population. A notification was issued on 31-03-2006,

which was published in A.P. Gazette on 13-04-2006 and time to time calling

for representations, objections and suggestions. Subsequently public hearings

were conducted from 15-05-2006 to 25-05-2006 and after public hearings,

the commission personally visited the places where those people are residing

to assess their living conditions. The commission also deputed a survey team

and they conducted household sample survey and the results of data

collected by them were furnished to the commission. The commission took

into consideration the oral and written representations, material papers filed

by them, findings of Anthropological survey of India, A.P. series, sample

survey reports and personal observations of the commission to decide

whether a particular caste or class is fit to be included in the list of backward

classes or not. The commission examined all the material available on record

and took a decision in its meeting held on 05-02-2009.

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IV – CASTE WISE REPORT

(1) ATIRASA

Sri Illa Bhaskar Rao president, East-West Godavari Districts Atirasa

Abyudaya Sangham, (Atirasa Welfare Association) Dondapudi, West Godavari

District submitted his representation which was forwarded to the chairman,

Backward Classes Commission through Sri K. Vivekananda, the then MLA,

Gopalapuram constituency & Ex-Minister. In the said representation it was

submitted that, Atirasa community people are residing in East-West Godavari

Districts and that they are socially and educationally backward. It was

reported that, they eke-out their livelihood by working as agricultural coolies.

The educated in their community up to 5th class is marginal and no jobholder

in Government. They are not politically represented. Their estimated

population is said to have been about 13,000 of which about a thousand are

in E. Godavari District and the rest are in W. Godavari District. Sri P.

Singanna Dora, MLA Polavaram, also requested the Commission to include the

said caste in the list of Backward Classes. Several representations have also

been received in the Commission over the period. On request from the

community representationists the National Commission for Backward Classes

the caste was included the central list of Other Backward Classes which at S.

No. 104. Dr. P. Pulla Rao, P.hD. Polavaram and Sri Laljan Basha S.M.,

Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) have also made a similar request for

inclusion.

After the Commission was reconstituted, a notification dated 31-03-2006,

was issued which was published in A.P. Gazette, dated 13-04-2008 calling for

representations, suggestions, objections and the caste representatives sent

similar representations. The Commission held public hearing on 15-05-2006 in

which, Sri Illa Bhaskar Rao, Dondapudi appeared before the Commission and

pleaded for inclusion of Atirasa caste for the following reasons:-

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A) That about 90% people are wage earners in Agriculture

B) That about 10% only are small farmers

C) That only a small percent are studied up to 5th class

D) That there not a single person from the community as Government

employee and

E) That they have the custom in practice of widow remarriages.

The Commission has drafted the survey staff headed by Dy. Director

(statistics) to conduct the Household survey to assess the Socio-Educational

and economic conditions of the caste people and furnish a report to the

Commission. The data so collected by the survey team scrutinized, tabulated

and analyzed is as under.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:

The household sample survey was conducted during August 2007 in

East & West Godavari districts. The survey covered 108 Households of this

community. The traditional occupation of this community was reported as

Podu cultivation, Agriculture.

2. Social Status:

All the 108 Households surveyed comprising of 453 persons are living

in rural areas. Sex ratio is 91 females per 100 males, whereas the ratio for

population below 15 years is 85 females per 100 males. The average

households size of the community is 4.19 persons.

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Results on Traditional Occupation (T.O.)

Item Remarks No of Households

Percentage

a) Traditional occupation in practice

Yes No

104 4

96.3 3.7

b) Feeling of the caste people on Traditional Occupation

Superior Inferior Normal

0 42 66

0.0 38.9 61.1

c) T.O treated by others Superior Inferior Normal

0 41 67

0.0 38.0 62.0

d) Social discrimination Yes No Normal

35 1 72

32.4 0.9 66.7

About 96% of households are still attending to their traditional

occupation as Cultivation labourers. Self-perception of about 39% of

households is that, their traditional occupation is inferior while 38% of

households stated to have been treated as inferior by others. About 32% of

households have reported that they are socially discriminated in their

localities.

3. Educational Status:

a) Sex wise literates and illiterates:

S. No Description Male Female Total

1 Literates No %

93 46.3

87 45.8

180 46.0

2 Illiterates No %

108 53.7

103 54.2

211 54.0

The literacy rate of Male is 46.3% while that of Female is 45.8% and

combined is 46.0% where as the state level literacy rate is 70.32%, 50.43 %

and 60.47 % in that order. The literacy rate of the community is far below the

state literacy rate.

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b) Educational level completed (7 years & above)

Percentage over S. No

Class Passed

No. of persons Population Literates

1 Below 5th 90 23.0 50.0

2 5th class 63 16.0 35.0

3 7th class 20 5.1 11.0

4 10th class 5 1.3 2.8

5 Inter 1 0.3 0.6

6 Degree 1 0.3 0.6

7 P.Gr. 0 0.0 0.0

8 Pro.Tech. 0 0.0 0.0

All Classes 180 46.0 100.0

The literates of the Community up to 10th classed passed constitute

99.4% and the post matriculation passed is only 0.6% of the total literates.

This shows that the community is very backward in education and nil /

marginal in salaried employees’ category.

c) Literates and dropouts (7 years and above)

Percentage of Literates

Percent of dropouts

S. No

Age Group

Population

Total Literates

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Drop outs from Edn.

Over Persons

Over Literate

s

1 7-14 84 79 94.0 20.2 27 32.1 34.2

2 15-24 90 54 60.0 13.8 49 54.4 90.7

3 25-39 126 36 28.6 9.2 36 28.6 100.0

4 40-59 78 11 14.1 2.8 10 12.8 90.9

5 60+ 13 0 0.0 0.0 0 0.0 0.0

All 391 180 46.0 122 31.2 67.8

The literacy rate of the community is far below the state literacy rate.

About 68% of dropouts are reported out of the total literates. The dropout

rates in the age group of 7-14 years are 32% over persons or 34% over the

literates. The children of this age group supposed to be in the list of school

enrollment. The dropout rate in the age group 15-24 is very high i.e., 90.7%

over literate population which shows very small number are continuing higher

education.

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d) Drop-outs from School/College studies with reasons (All-ages)

S. No Reason for Dropouts No. of persons

Dropout Rate

Percentage. over pop.

1 Failed 1 0.8 0.2

2 Education not required

9 7.3 2.0

3 Marriage 6 4.9 1.3

4 To work 35 28.5 7.7

5 Poverty 55 44.7 12.1

6 Health & others 17 13.8 3.8

All 123 100.0 27.2

About 73% of dropouts are on the reasons of poverty and to work for

a living. Among the dropouts, 7.3% have reported that education not

required and 4.9% dropouts due to marriage. Because of abstract

backwardness, the community did not recognize the value of education.

4. Employment Status: The surveyed population of “Atirasa” community is divided into Working

and Non Working groups basing on their economic activity. The Working

group is consisting of Daily wage earners, Self-employed, Regular salaried

and part-time workers while the Non-Working group comprising of children,

students, aged, retired, ill health, unemployed, and housewives.

a) Working and Non-Working population by sex is as follows.

Workers Non-Workers

Male Female Total Male Female Total

Number 155 140 295 82 76 158

Percentage Over total

65.4

64.8

65.1

34.6

35.2

34.9

As can be noticed, the Male workers constitute 65.4% while the

Female is 64.8% and the total workers is 65.1% of population against the

state work participation rates of 56.23%, 35.11% and 45.8% in that order. It

shows that the work participation rate of the community is higher than the

state work participation rate. This could be due to their participation in

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agriculture as daily-wage earners. The female work participation rate is

almost on par with male work participation, which shows stress on living with

related backwardness.

b) Statement showing Economic activity among working people.

S. No

Economic activity

Sex

Number Percent to Total population.

Percent to Worker- Population

1 Daily wage in Agri. Male Female Total

121 116 237

51.1 53.7 52.3

78.1 82.9 80.3

2 Daily wage in Non Agri. Male Female Total

1 1 2

0.4 05 0.4

0.6 0.7 0.7

3 Self employed in Agri Male Female Total

15 3 18

6.3 1.4 4.0

9.7 2.1 6.1

4 Self employed in Non-Agri Male Female Total

17 3 20

7.2 1.4 4.4

11.0 2.1 6.8

5 Regular salaried in Govt. Male Female Total

0 0 0

0.0 0.0 0.0

0.0 0.0 0.0

6 Regular salaried in Pvt. Male Female Total

1 0 1

0.4 0.0 0.2

0.6 0.0 0.3

7 Part time workers Male Female Total

0 17 17

0.0 7.8 3.8

0.0 12.2 5.8

Grand Total

295

65.1

100.0

About 80% of the working population or 52% over the population of

the community are engaged as daily wage earners in agriculture where the

remuneration paid is comparatively low and the work availability is rather

seasonal. The self employed in agriculture is only 6% of the worker

population which shows that they do not possess agricultural lands though

their traditional occupation is agriculture.

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5. Economic status:

Description No. of

Households Percentage over hhs.

a) Possessing Agrl. Land 25 23.2

b) Type of House (residing)

i) Pucca ii) Semi pucca

iii) Kutcha/Huts

7 27 74

6.5 25.0 68.5

c) Having Ration cards:

i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

101 3 4

93.5 2.8 3.7

d) Facilities/Amenities: i) Phone – Having connected Not having Phone

5 103

4.6 95.4

ii) Drinking water in the – Yes premises of households No

10 98

9.3 90.7

iii) Electricity connection Yes No

76 32

70.4 29.6

iv) Toilet within the premises Yes No

5 103

4.6 95.4

v) Percapita income = ... Per Annum Rs.7034/-

vi) Avg. Land holding = … acres. 0.50 Acres

About 69% of households are living in Kutcha / hut dwellings, 94 % of

households are possessing white ration cards, about 95% of households do

not have telephone facility. The households not having drinking water facility

within their premises is 91%, about 30% are without electricity connection to

their houses and 95% are without toilet facility with in their premises.

The Per capita income of this community is as low as Rs.7034/- as

against the state Per capita income Rs.25,695/-. Further, the average land

holding size of a household is a meager 0.50 Acres, though the entire

community is living in Rural Areas.

The survey results reveal that, about 96% of the households are still

attending to their traditional occupations., ie., Agriculture, above 39% of the

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households have reported that their traditional occupation is felt inferior by

them, above 38% of households felt that they are treated inferior by other

communities and about 32% of households felt that they were socially

discriminated in their locality. The literacy rate is far below the state average.

The school / college dropouts are more for the reasons of abstract

backwardness. The work participation rate is high which would reveal the

poverty of the community. The survey did not come across any person of any

level in government service while private and part time workers are found to

be very few. About 94% of the households are holding white ration cards,

69% of households are living in Kutcha houses and most of them are living in

unhygienic conditions without basic amenities like electricity, drinking water

and toilet facilities. The per capita income is far below the state average.

Being a small entity confined to East and West Godavari districts the Atirasa

caste was not exposed by research institutions / authorities of caste and

tribes. Upon representation from it community organization leaders, the

national Commission for Backward Classes have recognized this caste and

included in the list of Other Backward Classes.

Taking into consideration, all the relevant material collected as also on

the oral and written representations coupled with survey reports etc., this

Commission came to the conclusion that Atirasa caste / community is

socially and educationally backward and fit to be included under Group – D

at S. No. 41 in the list of Backward Classes and entitled to the benefits of

Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the constitution of India and the area of

operation shall be confined to East and West Godavari Districts and we

recommend to the Government accordingly.

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(2) BUKKA AYYAVARS

Sri Alladi Nambaiah, Convener and Ex-officio, A.P. State Bukka

Ayyavars Welfare Society, Chennur, Adilabad district submitted representation

dated 05-07-1994, requesting to include Bukka Ayyavars in the list of

Backward Classes. It was prayed that they are socially, educationally,

economically and politically backward. The word ‘Bukka’ means Kumkum and

they are called ‘Ayyavars’, which means ‘Yachakulu’ or mendicants. They are

living in almost all the Districts of Telangana region and in Krishna District.

The estimated population as claimed by them in the year 1992 was 12,422.

They manufacture Kumkum, which is stated to be their traditional occupation.

Their literacy rate is very low and they are not educated. They are also

engaged in cultural activities like enacting street dramas. They are not

adequately represented in Government jobs. They are not politically

represented in any of the high post. They lived Nomadic and semi-Nomadic

life. They live by making and selling of Kumkum, Bukka, Dachana, combs,

mirrors, hair pins, needles and the like sundry articles.

Muralidhar Rao Commission has recommended Bukka Ayyavar

community for inclusion in the B.C list and Government issued orders

accordingly vide G.O.Ms No. 166 Social Welfare (P) Department dated

15-07-1986. Subsequently, the said G.O. was challenged in the High court of

Judicature and hence the said GO was not implemented. S.Janardhan,

President and V. Satyanarayana, Secretary of State Bukka Ayyavar Welfare

Sangh, Nizamabad have also represented to include Bukka Ayyavar caste in

the list of Backward Classes. Sri Alladi Nambaiah again submitted another

representation dated 29-7-1996 to the Commission with the same contents of

his earlier representation. The Government of Andhra Pradesh also recognized

Bukka Ayyavar community as one of nomadic tribes and extended the

benefits to the de-notified tribes as per Government Memo No. 481-P2/84-2

dated 16-06-1984. Andhra Pradesh State Central Bukka Ayyavars Welfare

Society has been repeatedly making requests from time to time. Sri

L.Ramana, Member of Parliament, Karimnagar Constituency also made a

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request on 18-11-1997 to include Bukka Ayyavar caste in the list of Backward

Classes under Group – A on the grounds that they are utterly backward

economically, educationally, socially and politically. Sri S. Janardhan Swamy,

President, A.P. Bukka Ayyavar Sangham, Nizamabad also made a

representation to the Commission. Sri V. Satyanarayana, Secretary Bukka

Ayyavar Sangham, Nizamabad also submitted representation for the said

purpose.

A.P.Commission has issued a notification dated 31-03-2006 which was

published in A.P. Gazette dated 13-04-2006 calling for representations,

objections and suggestions and the caste representatives have sent similar

representations. Subsequently, public hearing was held on 17-05-2006. At the

time of public hearing, Sarvasri Alladi Narayana, S. Ramulu, Sadula Venkata

Narayana, Sadula Janardhan Swamy, Vadala Satyanarayana and S.

Nandamayya appeared before the Commission and pleaded for inclusion of

their caste as they are socially and educationally backward.

The Commission deputed the survey team headed by its Deputy

Director (statistics) to conduct household sample survey to study the socio-

economic conditions of the caste people. The results of the survey are as

follows.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:

The survey team of the Commission conducted Local enquiries and

Investigations including household sample survey during June 2007 in

Karimnagar, Adilabad and Nizamabad Districts. The household sample survey

covered 69 Households of Bukka Ayyavar community. The traditional

occupation of Bukka Ayyavar community is selling of Bukka, Gulal and sundry

items.

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2. Social Status:

All the 69 Households surveyed comprising of 299 persons of whom

40% of the households are living in rural areas and the rest 60% in urban

areas. The household size of the community is 4.33 persons.



Percentage


Yes No

23 46

33.3 66.7

b) Self perception caste people on Traditional Occupation


0 27 42

0.0 39.1 60.9


0 31 38

0.0 44.9 55.1


18 3 48

26.1 4.3 69.6

As can be seen from the above table, about 33% of households are

engaged in their traditional occupation i.e., selling of Bukka, Gulal etc., about

39% of households reported that their occupation is felt inferior by

themselves and 45% households have reported that, other communities feel

their caste as inferior. In view of the above, about 26% of households have

reported that they are discriminated by others in their neighborhoods.


a) Literates and Illiterates by sex:


1 Literates No %

122 92.4

90 66.2

212 79.1

2 Illiterates No %

10 7.6

46 33.8

56 20.9

Literacy rate of males is 92.4% and that of females is 66.2 % and both

male and female combined is 79.1% as against the State literacy rates of

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70.32%, 50.43% and 60.47% of that order. The literacy of the community

is above the state literacy rate.


Percentage over S. No Class Passed No. of persons/ Literates

Population Literates

1 Below 5th 39 14.6 18.4

2 5th class 28 10.4 13.2

3 7th class 55 20.5 26.0

4 10th class 50 18.7 23.6

5 Inter 15 5.6 7.1

6 Degree 16 6.0 7.5

7 P.Gr. 6 2.2 2.8

8. Pro.Tech. 3 1.1 1.4

All Classes 212 79.1 100.0

The literates up to 10th passed constitute 64.2% over population and

81.2% over literates, where as Inter passed and above constitute only 14.9%

over population and 18.8% over literates. This phenomenon tells that, the

number of persons pursuing higher education is low which again a symptom

of backwardness.

c) Literates and dropouts (7 years and above):

S. No Age Group

Population Total Literates


Drop outs

Percent of dropouts

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 42 40 95.2 14.9 2 4.8 5.0

2 15-24 63 60 95.2 22.4 27 42.9 45.0

3 25-39 85 73 85.9 27.2 59 69.4 80.8

4 40-59 49 30 61.2 11.2 27 55.1 90.0

5 60+ 29 9 31.0 3.4 8 27.6 88.9

All 268 212 79.1 79.1 123 45.9 58.0

The literacy rate of the community is 79%. The dropouts rate in the

age group of 7-14 years is 5% and the same in the age group of 15-24 is

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45%. This phenomenon shows that the dropouts in the higher education level

is rather high .The total dropouts over literates are 58%.


S. No Reason for Dropouts No. of Persons

Dropout Rate

Percentage over population.

1 Failed 10 8.1 3.3

2 Education not required 5 4.0 1.7

3 Marriage 19 15.3 6.4

4 To work 32 25.8 10.7

5 Poverty 52 42.0 17.4


All 124 100 41.5

The highest dropout rate is recorded for the reason of “poverty” with

42% followed by 25.8% with the reason” to work”. Thus both the reasons of

‘poverty’ and ‘to work’ put together will account for a whooping 67.8% which

would reveal that the caste people are living with abstract poverty.

4. Employment Status:

The surveyed population of Bukka Ayyavar community is divided into

Working group and Non Working group basing on their economic activity. The

Working group consisting of Daily wage earners, Self-employed, Regular

salaried and part-time workers and the Non-Working group consisting of

children, students, aged and ailing, retired, unemployed, and housewives.

a) Working and Non-Working groups of people by sex is as follows.

Workers Non-Workers


Number 86 42 128 63 108 171


57.7 28.0 42.8 42.3 72.0 57.2

It is noticed that the Male workers constitute 57.7%, while that of

Female workers with 28.0% and the total workers at 42.8% as against the

State work participation rates of 56.2%, 35.1% and 45.8% of that order.

Though the work participation rate of this community is high, the per capita

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income is very low. This shows that majority of workers are engaged in un-

remunerative/menial jobs.


S. No

Economic activity

Sex

Number

Percent to Total pop.

Percent to Workers- Population

1

Daily wage in Agriculture

Male Female Total

6 5 11

4.0 3.3 3.7

7.0 11.9 8.6

2

Daily wage in Non- Agriculture.

Male Female Total

12 7 19

8.1 4.7 6.3

13.9 16.7 14.8

3

Self employed in Agriculture

Male Female Total

2 0 2

1.3 0.0 0.7

2.3 0.0 1.6

4

Self employed in Non Agriculture

Male Female Total

44 17 61

29.5 11.3 20.4

51.2 40.5 47.6

5

Regular salaried in Govt

Male Female Total

6 0 6

4.0 0.0 2.0

7.0 0.0 4.7

6

Regular salaried in Pvt.

Male Female Total

15 3 18

10.1 2.0 6.0

17.4 7.1 14.1

7

Part time workers

Male Female Total

1 10 11

0.7 6.7 3.7

1.2 23.8 8.6

Grand Total 128 42.8 100

As can be seen from the above table, about 47.6% of workers are

engaged as self employed in non agriculture activity followed by 14.8% as

daily wage in Non Agriculture and a marginal 1.6% are engaged in Agriculture

as self employed. This would mean the community virtually has no

agricultural land to depend upon.

The work force engaged as regular salaried in both government and

Private sectors accounts for 18.8% of the work force. Over 71% of the work

forces are engaged as daily wage in Agriculture, daily wage in Non-

- 20 -

Agriculture and self employed in Non-Agriculture. As wage earners and

hawkers of sundry products, they have no assured income to depend upon.

This would reveal that the community is economically backward.

5. Economic status:

Description No. of

Households

Percentage over Households.




iii) Kutcha/Huts

30 31 8

43.5 44.9 11.6


i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

64 5 0

92.8 7.2 0.0


25 44

36.2 63.8


46 23

66.7 33.3


64 5

92.8 7.2


48 21

69.6 38.4

e) Percapita income ... Per Annum Rs. 7241/-

f) Avg. Land holding 0.03 Acres.

Though 41% of households of this community reside in rural areas the

percentage of households possessing Agricultural lands is only 4.3%. About

56% households are dwelling in Kutcha/ semi pucca houses. About 93% of

are possessing white Ration Card. About 64% are not having telephone

facility which is a drawback as most of them are engaged as self-employed in

Non-Agricultural activity for which communication is necessary for survival.

About 67% have no drinking water facility within premises and 38% are not

having individual sanitary latrines. The Percapita income of this community is

estimated at Rs. 7,241/- as against the State percapita income of Rs. 25,695/-

.

- 21 -

To sum up about 33% of the households are engaged in the traditional

occupation and they are looked down as inferiors by the society around them

and about a quarter of them are feeling that they are discriminated in their

neighborhood. Though the literacy rate is more than the state average the

portion of matriculates and above will account for only 18.8% of literates. The

dropouts from school or college are high. The per capita income is very low

and only 4.7% are working as regular salaried in Government establishments.

About 93% of the households possess white ration cards and they are living

in unhygienic conditions without basic amenities within their premises.

In his anthropological treatise, Edgar Thurston dealt with Bukka

community and observed that they are sellers of saffron (turmeric), red

powder, combs etc., They are street hawkers and their occupation is not

dignified and they occupy low social status and hence they are socially

backward.

The personal inspection of the Commission, survey report, oral

representation and other material collected would disclose that this caste had

not made significant progress in the spheres of education, economics and

political institutions. For the above reasons, this caste is entitled for the

benefit of Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the constitution of the India.

Taking into consideration of the oral and written representations

submitted by the caste people, survey results, anthropological reports etc.,

the Commission came to the conclusion that Bukka Ayyavar caste /

community is socially, educationally and economically backward and therefore

entitled to the benefits envisaged in the Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the

Constitution of India and fit to be included in the list of Backward Classes.

Since their traditional occupation is hawking sundry articles and move from

place to place to sell the goods, they are fit to be included under Group – A

of B. Cs. For the above said reasons, we recommend to the Government to

include Bukka Ayyavar caste / community in the list of Backward Classes

under Group – A at Sl. No. 47

- 22 -

(3) GOTRALA

Sri Gattu Swamy of Suddala village, Karimnagar District, Sri T.Narayana,

President and Sri N. Sankariah, Secretary of Gotrala Kula Sangham,

Karimnagar District gave representations to the Commission on 15-06-1994

and 07-08-1995 respectively requesting to include Gotrala caste or community

in the list of Backward Classes. Their traditional occupation is to recite the

genealogy and stories of the prominent families in the village and receive

their offering, thereby they were eking out their livelihood. Subsequently they

began to recite epics like Ramayana, Bhagavatam etc., and also perform

Harikatha and enact street shows. After introduction of Cinemas, their

traditional occupation was affected and their dramas and their stage shows

were not encouraged. They are socially, educationally, economically and

politically poor and they are looked down by others. They are now eking out

their livelihood by making broomsticks with the collected raw material from

forests and also weaving mats from date and Palmyra leaves. Some of them

are engaged in enacting street dramas. Their population is limited to certain

parts of Karimnagar, Adilabad, Medak, Nizamabad, Hyderabad and Ranga

Reddy Districts.

Sri T. Shankariah, President, Gotrala Kula Sangham, Karimnagar District

also gave representation on 10-10-1998 for inclusion. Their ancestors used to

recite the genealogy and Gotras of affluent families of the villages.

Subsequently they began to recite and enact dramas and street shows in the

form of HariKatha and Yaksha Ganam. After the introduction of Cinemas, their

traditional occupation was effected and male members were working as

coolies and females used to bundle broomsticks and sell them in the market

and also weave mats with date and Palmyra leaves.

Sri C.H. Siddi Ramulu, President and B. Rajamallu, General Secretary,

A.P. State Gotrala Kula Sangham Nizamabad and others also gave

representation on 06-06-2003 praying to include Gotrala caste contending

- 23 -

that there are 1,25,000 families in the State. Their representations were also

forwarded to the Commissioner, Backward Classes Welfare by Sri Nerella

Anjaneyulu, the then Minister for Technical Education & Training. It was

represented that they are residing in Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Adilabad,

Warangal, Medak, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy, Khammam and Hyderabad

Districts and their population is about 8 to 9 Lakhs. They used to move from

village to village and go the houses of Pakanati Reddies, Gudadi Reddies,

Gone Kapus, Munnuru Kapus, Koorma, Yadava and Gollas and recite their

Gotras and with the offerings given by them, they eke out their livelihood

their livelihood. They also used to recite the epic Bhagawatam and stage

street dramas and live on that earnings by moving from place to place in that

errand. They have been making representations from time to time including

to the District Collector, Nizamabad. The representation of Gotrala Shiv

Shankar was also forwarded to the Chairman, Andhra Pradesh Commission for

Backward Classes through Sri Mohammed Ali Shabbir, the then Minister for

Information and Public Relations, Energy & Coal. Their caste is being referred

in the Ration cards, Patta passbooks and other revenue records. Their

representation was also forwarded to the Chairman, APCBC by Sri K.R.Suresh

Reddy, Speaker, A. P. Legislative Assembly.

The Commission in its meeting held on 22-03-2006 resolved to

examine the representations of the castes which are predominantly

concentrated in limited areas with lesser population and accordingly issued

notification dated 31-03-2006 which was published in A.P. Gazette dated 13-

04-2006 calling for representations, objections and suggestions for inclusion

of 36 castes including Gotrala caste. Subsequently public hearing was held on

18-05-2006 and during public hearing, Siddi Ramulu, Gotrala Mallesh, Gattu

Swamy, Gotrala Bhumanna, T.Srinivas and others appeared before the

Commission and pleaded that Gotrala caste is socially and educationally

backward and prayed for inclusion.

- 24 -

The Commission drafted the survey team headed by the Deputy Director

(statistics) to conduct sample survey during June 2007 in Adilabad,

Nizamabad and Karimnagar Distircts. The survey results are as follows.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:


Investigations including household sample survey during June 2007 in

Adilabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar districts. The sample survey covered 93

Households of this community. The traditional occupation of this community is

found to be reciting Gotras to Gouda, Munnurukapu communities and stage

street dramas.

2. Social Status:

All the 93 Households comprising of 409 persons of which 89.2% are

living in rural areas and 10.8% live in urban areas with a household size of

4.4 persons. The sex ratio of the community is 102 Females per 100 Males

and for the age group 0-14 years it is 105 Females per 100 Males.



Percentage

a)Traditional occupation in Practice

Yes No

24 69

25.81 74.19



2 39 52

2.15 41.94 55.91

c)Traditional occupation treated by others


0 44 49

0.0 47.31 52.69


28 6 59

30.11 6.45 63.44

- 25 -

As can be seen about 26% households are doing their traditional

occupation and 42% of the households feel that their traditional occupation is

inferior. At the same time, 47% of them feel that their occupation is felt

inferior by others. In view of above, about 30% of households reported that,

they are social discriminated in their locality.


a) Literates and illiterates by sex:


1 Literates No

Their %

133 73.89

84 44.92

217 59.13

2 Illiterates No Their %

47 26.11

103 55.08

150 40.87

Male literates of the community is recorded at 73.89% while the

Female is at 44.92% and total literacy is at 59.13% as against the state

literacy rate of 70.32%, 50.43% and 60.47 % of that order. The literacy rate

of the community is just below the state literacy except the female literacy

with a short fall of about 5.51% over the state.


Percentage over S. No Class Passed No. of persons


1 Below 5th 52 14.17 24.00

2 5th class 51 13.90 23.50

3 7th class 49 13.35 22.60

4 10th class 48 13.08 22.10

5 Inter 14 3.81 6.50

6 Degree 2 0.55 0.90

7 P.Gr. 1 0.27 0.50

8. Pro.Tech. - - -

All Classes 217 59.13 100.00

As can be seen from the above table, It is noticed that up to 10th class

passed persons constitute about 55% from out of total literates and 59.13

over population. The portion of literates intermediate and above constitutes

- 26 -

only a marginal 4.63% of the population or 7.90% over the literates. People

with higher education in the community are very low.

a) Literates and dropouts (7 years and above):

S. No Age Group



Drop outs

Percent of dropouts

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 71 69 97.2 18.8 5 7.0 7.3

2 15-24 86 79 91.9 21.5 50 58.1 63.3

3 25-39 88 35 39.8 9.5 34 38.6 97.1

4 40-59 95 29 30.5 7.9 28 29.5 96.6

5 60+ 27 5 18.5 1.4 5 18.5 100.0

All 367 217 59.1 59.1 122 33.2 56.2

The overall drop out rate over population is 33.2% and 56.2% over

literates. The dropout rates in the age groups of 7-14 and 15-24 years are

7.63% and 66.3% respectively. The dropouts in higher education level are

very high which is a symptom of backwardness.

b) Drop-outs from School/College studies with reasons (All-ages)


Dropout Rate

Percentage. Over pop.

1 Failed 4 3.3 1.0


4 3.3 1.0

3 Marriage 11 9.0 2.7

4 To work 41 33.6 10.0

5 Poverty 51 41.8 12.5


All 122 100.0 29.8

The reasons for the dropouts as can be seen above, 41.8% have

stated that due to poverty, followed by 33.6% to work for living and 9% due

to marriage. Thus over 75.4% dropouts are due to the reason of poverty in

general.

- 27 -


The entire surveyed population of “Gotrala” community basing on

their economic activity is divided into Working and Non Working groups. The

Working group of people is consisting of Daily wage earners, Self-employed,

Regular salaried and part-time workers. The Non-Working group consisting of

children, students, aged and infirm, retired, unemployed and housewives.


Workers Non-Workers


Number 118 101 219 84 106 190


58.4 48.8 53.5 41.6 51.2 46.5

It is noticed that the Male workers constitute 58.4% while that of

Female with 48.8% and the total working persons constitute 53.5% as

against the state work participation rate of 56.23%, 35.11% and 45.8% of

that order. The work participation rate of this community is above the state

work participation rate.

- 28 -


S. No Economic activity Sex Number Percent to Total pop.

Percent to Workers- population


37 40 77

18.3 19.3 18.9

31.4 39.6 35.2


30 27 57

14.9 13.0 13.9

25.4 26.7 26.0


11 3 14

5.4 1.5 3.4

9.3 3.0 6.4


32 4 36

15.8 1.9 8.8

27.1 4.0 16.4


2 3 5

1.0 1.5 1.2

1.7 3.0 2.3


6 1 7

3.0 0.5 1.7

5.1 1.0 3.2

7 Part time workers Male

Female

Total

0

23

23

0.0

11.1

5.6

0.0

22.7

10.5

Grand Total 219 53.5% 100.0

As can be seen from the above table, the working population of this

community is distributed among all the given economic activities with varying

percentages. The highest numbers of workers are engaged in Daily wage in

Agriculture by 18.9% over population or 35.2% over work force followed by

daily wage in Non-Agriculture activity by 13.9% and by 26.0% respectively.

About 3.0% of workers over population or 5.5% over working population are

in Regular salaried in Govt. & Private establishments. About 32 % over

population or 61.2% over total workers are engaged in un-skilled,

un-dignified and non-remunerative works. The work force of this community

is found to be above the state average which shows the abstract poverty

prevailing in the community which warrants every member of the community

should work for living

- 29 -

5. Economic status:

Description No. of Households

Percentage over hhs.


b) Type of House (residing) - -


iii) Kutcha/Huts

24 59 10

25.8 63.4 10.8

c) Having Ration cards: - -

i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

93 0 0

100.0 0.0 0.0


20 73

21.5 78.5


41 52

44.1 55.9


86 7

92.5 7.5


19 74

20.4 79.6

v) Percapita income =… Per Annum Rs. 5,835/- -

vi) Avg. Land holding =… acres. 0.25 -

About 43% of households are found to be possessing Agriculture land

but the “self employed in Agriculture” is only 3.4% over population or 6.4%

over workers. About 74% of households are residing in semi pucca houses

and huts. All the households are possessing white Ration Cards. About

78.5% have no phone connections, about 56% of them have no drinking

facility within premises and about 80% have no individual sanitary latrines.

Average land holding size is a marginal 0.25 acres and their per capita income

is Rs. 5,835/- as against the average State per capita income of Rs. 25,695/-.

The survey data would reveal that the community is socially discriminated

and treated as occupationally inferior. The per capita income of this

community is just 22.71% of the State average. The female literacy rate is

lower than the State average. All the surveyed household are in possession of

white ration cards and are living in un-hygienic condition without basic

- 30 -

amenities like drinking water, electricity and toilet facilities within their

premises. The women folk are engaged in mat making from Palmyra leaves

and date palm leaves and hence they are lookdown upon by the society

around them.

It has been found that this caste has not been dealt with any of the

Research Institutions/ Anthropologists like Kitts, Thurston, Syed Siraj – ul –

Hassan and People of India A.P. Series. In the absence of any authoritative

literature, the Commission was compelled to act on the representations made

by the caste representatives and the personal observation of the Commission

and the report of the survey team. On examination of the report of the survey

team, the traditional occupation was and is comparable to that of

‘Pitchiguntala’ caste, which was recognized as Backward Class in A.P. Material

truth would reveal that the castes suffers from social stigma by its vocation

their employment strength in Govt./ Private Institution is marginal and have

no political representation. These facts would justify that they deserve the

benefits under Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the Constitution of India for a

place in the list of backward classes and fit to be in Group-A of BCs. to this

caste considering the living conditions of the people and they are fit to be inc

under Group – A of the existing list of BCs.

With the survey results on hand, all the supporting facts collected by the

Commission at the time of hearing, with due regard to the principles or

criteria laid down in the Mandal case and the criteria adopted by this

Commission, Gotrala caste or community is found to be socially,

educationally and economically backward for the purpose of Articles 15 (4)

and 16 (4) of the Constitution of India and fit to be included in the list of

Backward Classes under Group – A at S. No 48 and this Commission

recommends for inclusion of the said caste accordingly.

- 31 -

(4) KASIKAPADI / KASIKAPUDI

Sri A. Sathaiah, President, Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi Sangham, Hyderabad

and others submitted representations on 14-09-1994 and again on

27-01-1996 for inclusion of Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi caste / community in the

list of Backward Classes. They have submitted that their traditional occupation

was to collect prasada (food offerings to Lord Siva) of Lord Vishwanath of

Kasi and the holy water of river Ganga and distribute the same to devotees

living in the villages of Andhra Pradesh and Maharastra. In exchange for the

sacred water and prasada, the villagers used to give food grains and money

to these people. Due to obsolescence of this age-old custom, Kasikapadi /

Kasikapudi community have become a trading community now a days, dealing

with buying and selling of old clothes, groceries and petty business in small

towns and cities. Most of them are landless and a good number of them work

as non-skilled labourers. Their literacy rate is very low and they are

economically poor. Muralidhara Rao Commission recommended for inclusion

of this community in the list of Backward Classes and accordingly the

Government accepted and issued Government G.O. but the said G.O. was

challenged and the High Court which struck down certain clauses of the

order. Consequently, Government ordered status quo-anti on the orders

issued on the basis of recommendations made by Muralidhara Rao

Commission. For the said reasons, they prayed the Commission for inclusion

of their Community in the Backward Classes.

After the reconstitution of the A.P. Commission for BCs was, the

Commission issued a notification dated 31-03-2006 which was published in

A.P. Gazette dated 13-04-2006, calling for representations, suggestions and

objections, for inclusion in the B.C List. Public hearing was held on

15-05-2006, in which the representatives have submitted the same

representation to the Commission.

- 32 -

The Commission has drafted the survey staff headed by Dy. Director

(statistics) to conduct the Household survey to assess the socio-Educational

and economic conditions of the caste people and furnish a report to the

Commission. The data so collected by the survey team scrutinized, tabulated

and analyzed is as under.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:

The survey team of the Commission conducted Local enquiries,

Investigations and household sample survey during September 2007 in

Hyderabad, Mahaboobnagar and Nizamabad Districts. A total of 118

Households have been covered in the sample survey.

2. Social Status:

All the 118 Households comprising 510 persons are living in urban area

only, with average size 4.32 persons per household. The sex ratio of the

Community is 100 Females per 100 Males and for the age group up to 14

years the ratio is 95 Females per 100 Males.



Percentage


Yes No

34 84

28.8 71.2



0 36 82

0.0 30.5 69.5


0 31 87

0.0 26.3 73.7


27 0 91

22.9 0.0 77.1

About 29% of households of the Community are engaged in their

Traditional Occupation for livelihood. About 31% of households felt that their

- 33 -

Traditional occupation is inferior, about 26% of households reported that,

their Occupation is being treated inferior by others and 23% of households

have reported that they are socially discriminated in their neighborhood.


a) Literates and Illiterates by sex (7 Years & above)


1 Literates No %

202 90.2

182 80.2

384 85.1

2 Illiterates No %

22 9.8

45 19.8

67 14.9

The male literacy of the Community is 90.2% while the Female is

80.2% and total is 85.1 % against the state literacy rate 70.32%, 50.43%

and 60.47% of the same order. As can be observed, the literacy rate of the

Community is above the state literacy level, which shows that the community

is literacy conscious due to living in urban area.


The literates up to 10th class passed registered at 86.2% and the

Matriculation passed and above is 13.8% over literate population. The

percentage of people with higher education is very low.

Percentage over S. No Class Passed No. of literate persons Population Literates

1 Below 5th 62 13.8 16.2

2 5th class 51 11.3 13.3

3 7th class 133 29.5 34.6

4 10th class 85 18.8 22.1

5 Inter 38 8.4 9.9

6 Degree 10 2.2 2.6

7 P.Gr. 3 0.7 0.8

8. Pro.Tech. 2 0.4 0.5

All Classes 384 85.1 100.0

- 34 -


S. No Age

Group Population Total

Literates Percentage of Literates

Percent of dropouts

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Drop outs from edn.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 85 85 100.0 18.8 3 3.5 3.5

2 15-24 94 86 91.5 19.1 51 54.3 59.3

3 25-39 145 133 91.7 29.5 129 89.0 97.0

4 40-59 101 70 69.3 15.5 68 67.3 97.1

5 60+ 26 10 38.5 2.2 9 34.6 90.0

All 451 384 85.1 85.1 260 57.6 67.7

About 57.6% of dropouts over population or 67.7% over literates is

noticed. The dropout rate in the age-group 15-24 years is 54.3% over

population and 59.3% over literates. This phenomenon shows the dropout

rate is high in higher education due to poverty.


S. No Reason for Dropouts No. of

Dropouts Dropout Rate


1 Failed 30 11.5 5.9


4 1.5 0.8

3 Marriage 67 25.8 13.1

4 To work 85 32.7 16.7

5 Poverty 59 22.7 11.6


All 260 100.0 51.0

The strongest reason for dropout noticed is ‘to work’ with 32.7%,

followed by ‘Marriage’ 25.8%, and ‘Poverty’ 22.7%. As can be noticed as

much as 55% of dropouts are due to poverty in general and to work for a

living.

- 35 -

4. Employment Status: The surveyed population of Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi community basing

on their economic activity is divided into working group and Non Working

groups. The Working group of people is consisting of Daily wage earners,

Self-employed, Regular salaried and part-time workers while the Non-Working

group consisting of children, students, aged and infirm, retired, unemployed,

and housewives.

a) Working and Non-Working groups of people by sex is as follows. Workers Non-Workers


Number 147 84 231 108 171 279


57.6 32.9 45.3 42.4 67.1 54.7

As can be noticed, the work participation rate of Male is 57.6% while

the Female is at 32.9% and the total workers at 45.3% as against the state

work participation rates of 56.23%, 35.11%, and 45.89% of that order. The

work participation rate of the community is more or less the same that of the

state work participation rate.

- 36 -


S. No Economic activity Sex Number

% to Total pop.

% to Worker- population


4 1 5

1.5 0.4 1.0

2.7 1.2 2.2


30 20 50

11.8 7.8 9.8

20.4 23.8 21.6


0 0 0

0.0 0.0 0.0

0.0 0.0 0.0


61 33 94

23.9 13.0 18.4

41.5 39.3 40.7

5 Regular salaried in Govt Male Female Total

3 0 3

1.2 0.0 0.6

2.0 0.0 1.3


49 9 58

19.2 3.5 11.4

33.3 10.7 25.1


0 21 21

0.0 8.2 4.1

0.0 25.1 9.1

Grand Total 231 45.3 100.0

Among the workers of the Community only 0.6% over population are

employed in Govt. services. The highest workers are found to be engaged in

‘Self employed in Non-Agriculture’ activity with 18.4% over population or

40.7% over workers followed by regular salaried in put with 11.4% over

population and 25.1% over work force and daily wage earners in non-

agriculture with 9.8% over population and 21.6% over workforce.

- 37 -

5. Economic status:

Description No. of





iii) Kutcha/Huts

68 45 5

57.6 38.1 4.3


i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

103 11 4

87.3 9.3 3.4


36 82

30.5 69.5


92 26

78.0 22.0


118 0

100.0 0.0


105 13

89.0 11.0

e) Percapita income Rs 9519/- Per Annum

f) Avg. Land holding 0.00… acres. 0 0

As can be noticed, about 42.4% of households are living in semi-pucca

and kutcha houses, 87% are possessing white ration cards, 70% without

phone facility and about 22% of households without drinking water facility

within premises. The comparative position of amenities availed is slightly fair

due to living in urban areas.

The per capita income of the Community is Rs.9, 519/- as against the

state per capita income of Rs.25,695/-.

The survey results reveal that 29% of the households of the

community are engaged in their traditional occupation, 31% of the

households feel that their occupation is inferior and 26% reported that their

occupation has been treated inferior by others and about 23% are socially

discriminated in their living areas. Though the literacy level is higher than the

- 38 -

state literacy, there are very few people who are Matriculates and above. The

school / college dropouts are more for the reasons mentioned in the report.

The persons who are engaged in Government services are very few. About

87.3% possess white ration cards and about 42.4% live in semi pucca and

Kutcha houses without basic amenities. Their per capita income is also very

low.

On representation, Muralidhar Rao Commission recommended

Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi as one among 9 communities for inclusion in the B.C

list. The observations of Sri Muralidhara Rao Commission are as follows:

“Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi community population is very limited around

10,000 and scattered in Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Mahaboobnagar and

Adilabad districts. Their living is mainly, by hawking of old clothes after

obtaining them from various people in exchange of some articles. They are

not in a position to give any kind of education to their children. Some people

eke out their livelihood even by begging. They migrated originally from

Maharastra state to old Hyderabad state. The Maharastra Government has

included this community in the list of Backward Classes under the name

“Kapadi”. They are looked down upon in the society and also suffer from

educational backwardness. Therefore this Commission recommends the

inclusion of Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi community in the list of Backward

Classes.”

Basing the report of Muralidhara Rao Commission, State Government

issued G.O.Ms. No. 166 S.W. (P) Department dated 15-07-1986.

Subsequently, writ petitions were filed and the High Court which struck down

clauses 13, 14 and 15 of the said G.O. There up on Government ordered

status quo-anti. Consequently the said G.O. was not implemented. The

National Commission for Backward Classes considered their request and

recommended for inclusion on 10-09-1997. The caste is also recognized as

backward class in the states of Karnataka and Maharastra.

- 39 -

Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi community is in fact a nomadic tribe said to

have been migrated from Maharastra to old Hyderabad state. Presently they

are living mainly by hawking old clothes which they collect in exchange of

some utensils of plastic, aluminum for general household use.. The status of

the community is very low in society as they are in the hawking business.

There is no political representation of any level and very few are in

Government jobs. They are scattered over Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy,

Nizamabad, Mahaboobnagar and Adilabad Districts

Considering the living conditions of the people, oral and written

representations made by them and other material, it may be concluded that

Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi community is socially and educationally backward and

thus entitled to the benefits made under Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the

Constitution of the India and fit to be included in the list of Backward Classes

The area of operation shall be confined to Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy,

Nizamabad, Mahaboobnagar and Adilabad districts of Telangana region.

For the reasons mentioned above, we recommend to the Government

for inclusion of Kasikapadi / Kasikapudi caste / community in the list of

Backward Classes under Group – A at S. No. 49 in the list of Backward

Classes and the area of operation shall be confined to Hyderabad, Ranga

Reddy, Nizamabad, Mahaboobnagar and Adilabad districts of Telangana

region.

- 40 -

(5) SIDDULA

Sri S. Shankaraiah, Pesident, Andhra Pradesh Siddula Caste Association

submitted representation to the Chairman, Backward Classes Commission on

16-6-1998 requesting to include Siddula caste under Group – A in the list of

Backward Classes. It was represented that Siddula Caste people are residing

in the districts of Medak, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Khammam and Hyderabad.

The entire population of their community is about 3000 people only residing

at the outskirts of the villages with negligible population. Their ancestors are

said to have dwelling in forests, caves and hillocks as such the names of such

places as Siddula gutta are seen near Kurnool, Shamsahbad, Vemulaswada

etc., still stand in testimony. They used to live by begging. The forward

communities did not treat them with respect as such they are looked down in

the society. Some of the families engaged in selling paper flowers, Kumkum,

Combs, leaves plates etc. They are socially, educationally and economically

backward. They do not possess agricultural lands. They used to migrate from

place to place during shandy and local festivals. Their literacy rate is very low

and most of their children are engaged in the same vocation to support to

augment their family income. Sri Siddula Ravinder, General Secretary, State

Siddula Caste Association and others also represented and made a request to

the commission. Sri S Sivarajam, President A.P. Siddula Caste Society,

Siddipet, Medak District along with S. Prabhakar, Yadagir and S. Sudhakar

met the Chairman on 30-5-2000 and presented a memorandum with a list of

towns / villages where the Siddula caste people are predominantly seen. They

too have represented that the majority of the caste people are engaged in

selling Bukha, Gulal, Kumkum, Combs and other articles and they move from

place to place during Sandy and Jataras. They are distinct from Poosala caste

and are grossly under represented in the services of A.P. and therefore they

requested for inclusion of their caste in B.Cs. Sri R. Krishnaiah, President, A.P.

Backward Classes Association also represented for inclusion of Siddula caste

in the list of Backward Classes under Group – A. Siddula Sivarajam again

represented before the commission with a similar request on 24-2-2006.

- 41 -

Subsequent to the receipt of the representations, the commission

issued a notification dt.30-3-2006 calling for representations, objections and

suggestions and their caste people represented the very same facts.

Subsequently public sitting and hearing was held on 16-05-2006 in which Sri

S. Sivarajam, S. Venkatesham, S. Ravinder and others appeared before the

commission and represented that Siddula caste is socially, educationally and

economically backward and majority of them are below poverty line.

The Commission deputed a survey team headed by the Deputy

Director (Statistics) to conduct household sample survey of the caste. The

data thus collected, scrutinized, tabulated and analyzed is as reported below.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:


Investigations including household survey during June & August 2007 in

Nizamabad, Karimnagar & Medak Districts. The sample household Survey

covered 72 Households of this community. The traditional occupation of this

community is found to be manufacture & sale of wooden articles and dolls.

2. Social Status:

The 72 Households surveyed comprising of 308 persons. About 44.4%

are living in rural areas and 55.6% in urban areas. The average family size is

4.28 persons. The sex ratio of the community is 90 Females per 100 Males

and for the age group 0-14 years, it is 84 Females per 100 Males, which is far

below the state’s sex ratio (978 females per 1000males). This phenomenon

does show that female infanticide may be prevalent in the community.

- 42 -


Item Remarks No. of Households

Percentage


Yes No

16 56

22.2 77.8



0 8 64

0.0 11.1 88.9


0 8 64

0.0 11.1 88.9


4 28 40

5.6 38.9 55.5

As can be observed, about 22.2% of house holds are attending to

their traditional Occupation. Only 11.1% of households are feeling that their

occupation is inferior perhaps due to the feeling of dignity of labour. A

marginal 5.6% of households feel that they are being socially discriminated on

account of their occupation in their neighborhood with religious activism and

saivism, the social discrimination may not have been felt by the community.


a) Literates and illiterate by Sex.


1 Literates No %

130 88.4

68 51.9

198 71.2

2 Illiterates No %

17 11.6

63 48.1

80 28.8

The male literacy of the Community is 88.4% while the Female is

51.9% and total is 71.2 % against the state literacy rates of 70.32%, 50.43%

and 60.47% of the same order. As can be observed, the literacy rate of the

Community is just above the state literacy level, which shows that the

community is literacy conscious.

- 43 -


Percentage over S. No Class Passed No. of persons Population Literates

1 Below 5th 37 13.3 18.7

2 5th class 26 9.4 13.1

3 7th class 64 23.0 32.3

4 10th class 43 15.5 21.7

5 Inter 15 5.4 7.6

6 Degree 12 4.3 6.1

7 P.Gr. 0 0.0 0.0

8. Pro.Tech. 1 0.4 0.5

All Classes 198 71.2 100.0

The percentage of persons passed up to 10th class is 61.2% over

population and 85.8% over literates while persons with inter and above is

10.1% over population and 14.2% over literates. Persons who passed post-

matriculation are very less.

c) Literates and dropouts (7 years and above)

S. No Age Group



Drop outs

Percent of dropouts

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 40 40 100.0 14.4 5 12.5 12.5

2 15-24 73 64 87.7 23.0 36 49.3 56.3

3 25-39 81 67 82.7 24.1 64 79.0 95.5

4 40-59 59 22 37.3 7.9 22 37.3 100.0

5 60+ 25 5 20.0 1.8 5 20.0 100.0

All 278 198 71.2 71.2 132 47.5 66.7

The overall dropout rate is 47.5% over population or 66.7% over

literates. In the age group of 7-14 years though the literacy rate is 100%, the

dropouts over literates is 12.5% while for the age group 15-24 it is as high as

56.3 over literates. The dropout rate for the age group 15-24 is 49.3% over

passed and 56.3 over literates.

- 44 -



Dropout Rate


1 Failed 14 10.6 4.5


3 Marriage 20 15.1 6.5

4 To work 48 36.4 15.6

5 Poverty 44 33.3 14.3


All 132 100.0 42.9

As can be inferred above the highest dropout rate is recorded for the

reason “to work 36.4%” followed by “Poverty “with 33.3%. About’ 15.1% are

due to “marriage “and 10.6% due to” failed” and could not continue further

education. This shows economic / social backwardness of the community.


The surveyed population of Siddula community basing on their

economic activity is divided into working group and Non Working groups. The

Working group is consisting of Daily wage earners, Self-employed, Regular

salaried and part-time workers while the Non-Working group consisting of

children, students, aged and ailing, retired, unemployed and housewives.


Workers Non-Workers


Number 99 51 150 63 95 158


61.1 34.9 48.7 38.9 65.1 51.3

As can be noticed, the Male workers constitute 61.1% whereas the

Female is at 34.9% and the total workers at 48.7% as against the state work

participation rates of 56.23%, 35.11%, 45.80 % of that order. The work

participation rates of this community are higher than the state rates except

for the female rate.

- 45 -


S. No Economic activity Sex Number Percent to Total pop.



14 11 25

8.6 7.5 8.1

14.1 21.6 16.7


17 14 31

10.5 9.6 10.1

17.2 27.5 20.7


2 0 2

1.2 0.0 0.6

2.0 0.0 1.3


44 20 64

27.2 13.7 20.8

44.4 39.2 42.7


4 0 4

2.5 0.0 1.3

4.0 0.0 2.7


18 2 20

11.1 1.4 6.5

18.2 3.9 13.3


0 4 4

0.0 2.7 1.3

0.0 7.8 2.7

Grand Total 150 48.7 100.0

The working population of this community is engaged in all the above-

classified economic activities. About 43% of workers over working population

are engaged as self-employed in Non-Agriculture. The workers engaged in

Regular salaried in Govt. and in private establishments put together constitute

only 8% over population or 16% over working population. Over 37.4% are

engaged on daily wages in Agriculture and Non Agriculture-sector over

workers. Self employed in agriculture constitute only 0.6% over population

which shows that the land holdings are negligible in the community.

- 46 -

5. Economic status:

Description No. of Households



b) Type of House (residing) - -


iii) Kutcha/Huts

33 33 6

45.8 45.8 8.3

c) Having Ration cards: - -

i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

64 5 3

88.9 6.9 4.2


15 57

20.8 79.2


55 17

76.4 23.6


68 4

94.4 5.6


56 16

77.8 22.2

v) Percapita income = … Per Annum Rs.7967/- -

vi) Avg. Land holding = … acres. 0.09 Acres -

About 54% of households are living in semi-pucca and kutcha/hut

dwellings. About 88.9% are having white ration cards, 79.2% of households

are without telephone connections, 23.6% of households having no drinking

water facilities within premises and 22.2% without individual sanitary Latrines.

Only 5.6% households are in possession of Agricultural land with a meager

holding size of 0.09 Acres.

The per capita income of this community is as low as Rs 7,967/- as

against the state per capita income of Rs 25,695/-

Siddula caste people are living in limited areas with less population.

The estimated population of the caste is 5000. There is no literature available

on this caste. Thurston and Syed Siraj Ul Hassan have not dealt with in their

- 47 -

works. On an extensive and intensive local investigation done by survey

teams and the representations of the caste people, the commission found

that Siddula caste people are engaged as hawkers in the preparation and sale

of Basingalu and Batakammalu. They also sell combs, leaves plates, Kumkum,

Bukka, Gulal etc, like Poosala community people. The traditional and present

occupation of the caste is comparable to that of Poosala caste, which is

enlisted at Serial No. 24 of Group – D of B.Cs. Comparatively the living

conditions of Siddula caste is far below Poosala caste.

Basing on the oral and written representations submitted by Siddula

caste people, survey report and other material collected by the commission,

the commission came to the conclusion that Siddula caste is socially,

Educationally and economically backward and they are not adequately

represented in the services of the state and political institutions. For above

said reasons they are entitled for the benefits envisaged under articles 15 (4)

and 16 (4) of the constitution.

For the reasons stated above, we recommend to the Govt. to recognize

Siddula caste as backward caste both for the purposes of articles 15 (4) and

16 (4) of the Constitution of India, confining the area of operation to

Telangana region only. Siddula caste may be included under Group – A at

S. No. 50 in the list of Backward Classes.

- 48 -

(6) SIKLIGAR / SAIKALGAR

Sri Nanak Singh from Sanga Reddy of Medak district submitted his

representation on 10-05-1994 to the Chairman, A.P. Commission for

Backward Classes requesting for inclusion of Sikligar / Saikalgar Caste in the

B.C. list. It was sated that, Saikalgar Community is part and parcel of Sikh

Community, which was migrated from Punjab along with Sikh Army to

prepare arms for Sikh Army during the period of the Vth Nizam of Hyderabad.

Nizam Vth invited Sikh Army from Maha Raja Ranjeet Singh to Hyderabad

State in the year 1830 to collect Land Revenue in the Nizam dominion. After

the amalgamation of the Nizam territory into the Indian union the Sikh Army

was disbanded and were taken in to the Govt. service. Hence the occupation

of Saikalgar Community has received a severe blow with no Government

patronage to earn for a living. Slowly the community has taken up

manufacture of iron household appliances and kitchenware. With the advance

of time and change in technology their products have no popularity but the

community people have no alternative but to depend upon their age-old

occupation with very meager income to live with. They are presently

engaged with the profession of blacksmith, carpentry etc. It was submitted

that they are not educated and most of them are below poverty line. It was

further stated that Sikligar community was recognized as backward class in

the states of Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab.

Sri S. Tagore Singh, representing the case on behalf of Gurudwara

SriGuru Singh Sabha, Miryalguda, Nalgonda district, has submitted

representation stating that Sikligar community has distinct language, with no

script. They depend upon doing iron works for their livelihood. They neither

possess agricultural land nor even houses and whole community is living

below poverty line. Sangat Singh Kandhari, Gurunanak colony, Vijayawada

also submitted a similar representation for the inclusion of Sikligar community

in the B.C.list. It was stated that the term Sikligar by Persian dialect would

mean “metal burnisher”. They were the best army men and during the days

- 49 -

of freedom struggle, they prepared and supplied arms and ammunition for

the revolutionaries. The British chased and persecuted them as such they

moved from place to place and they are therefore called wandering

blacksmiths. They are living below poverty line and they are recognized in

several states and included in the list of backward classes. They are notified

tribe in Maharastra and backward class in Karnataka. It was stated that their

population is approximately 5000. They seldom come to Gurudwara due to

inferiority complex. Child labour is common and all members of the family

including women-folk work for their livelihood. They do not possess

agricultural land or houses. They erect temporary huts on vacant lands to do

their daily work and once the demand dies in that locality they, move to a

new place to attend to the same work. Their children do not go to school.

They are socially, educationally, economically and occupationally most

backward and hence it was argued that they might be included in the list of

backward classes. The President of the Association has enclosed testimonials

of different states including Sikligars as B.Cs. Similar representations were

submitted by Sri Guru Nanak co-operative Building Society Limited,

Vijayawada and Sri Manjeet Singh of Karimnagar.

On receipt of the said representations the commission in its meeting

held on 22-03-2006 resolved to call for representations, objections and

suggestions for inclusion of Sikligar Community in the B.C. list. The caste

representatives made similar representations in the public hearing, which was

held on 25-05-2006. Sri S. Bahadur Singh and Sri. S. Shanth Singh from

Chityala, Nalgonda district appeared before the commission and they

represented the very same facts stated above and pleaded for inclusion of

Sikligar Caste in the B.C list

Subsequently, the commission deputed survey team headed by the Dy.

Director (Statistics) to conduct household sample survey and collected

information on the Socio, Educational and Economic aspects for the

- 50 -

community to assess the backwardness of the caste. The survey results are

as follows.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:


Investigations including household sample survey during July & August 2007

in Ranga Reddy, Adilabad, Nalgonda and Hyderabad Districts. The household

sample survey covered 91 Households of this community. The traditional

occupation of this community is manufacture of Iron and Tin metal articles

i.e., utensils like Buckets, Kadai, Tavva, Mukudu etc.,

2. Social Status:

All the 91 Households are comprising 479 persons of which (9.9%) are

living in Rural areas and (90.1%) of them live in Urban areas. The average

household size is 5.3 persons. The sex ratio of this community is 109 females

per 100 males whereas for age group 0-14 years, it is 117 Females per 100

Males.



Percentage


Yes No

70 21

76.9 23.1

b) Self perception of the caste people on Traditional Occupation


0 79 12

0.0 86.8 13.2

c) T.O treated by others


0 79 12

0.0 86.8 13.2

d) Social discrimination

Yes No Normal

74 1 16

81.3 1.1 17.6

- 51 -

About 77% of households are engaged in their traditional occupation,

about 87% of households expressed their occupation as inferior and the same

percentage of households revealed that their occupation is treated as inferior

by others. In view of the above, about 81% of households reported that they

are socially discriminated in their living areas.


a) Sex wise literates and illiterates:


1 Literates No %

136 73.1

112 55.1

248 63.7

2 Illiterates No %

50 26.9

91 44.8

141 36.3

The literacy rate of the community among male is 73.1, female 55.1

and total 63.7 against the state literacy rate 70.32, 50.43 and 60.47

respectively.




1 Below 5th 116 29.8 46.8

2 5th class 50 12.9 20.2

3 7th class 46 11.8 18.5

4 10th class 25 6.4 10.1

5 Inter 8 2.0 3.2

6 Degree 2 0.5 0.8

7 P.Gr. 0 0.0 0.0

8 Pro.Tech. 1 0.3 0.4

All Classes 248 63.7 100.0

Though, the literacy rate of the community is slightly above the state

rate, upto Matriculation passed persons are about 61% over population or

95.6% over literates and the post Matriculation passed are only 2.8% or

4.4% over literates.

- 52 -


S. No Age Group



Percent of dropouts

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Drop outs from Edn.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 131 120 91.6 30.8 14 10.7 11.7

2 15-24 89 71 79.8 18.3 52 58.4 73.2

3 25-39 99 32 32.3 8.2 32 32.3 100.0

4 40-59 51 23 45.1 5.9 23 45.1 100.0

5 60+ 19 2 10.5 0.5 2 10.5 100.0

All 389 248 63.8 63.8 123 31.6 49.6

It is seen from the table that about 50% of dropouts over literates or

31.6% over persons are recorded. Dropouts in the age group 7-14 years are

10.7% over persons or 11.7% over literates, which should be a ‘nil’ dropout

rate for the reason of compulsory education for that age. The dropout rate for

the age group.15-24 is rather high with 58.4% over population or 73.2% over

literates.



Dropout Rate


1 Failed 6 4.9 1.3


3 Marriage 16 13.0 3.3

4 To work 46 37.4 9.6

5 Poverty 32 26.0 6.7


All 123 100.0 25.7

The strongest reason of dropouts registered is “to work” with 37.4%

followed by” Poverty”‘with 26.0% and ‘marriage’ with 13.0%. This indicates

that poverty has driven over 63.4% of dropouts to earn for a living.

- 53 -


The surveyed population of Sikligar community is divided into Working

group and Non Working group basing on their economic activity. The Working

group of people constitutes Daily wage earners, Self-employed, Regular

salaried and part-time workers while the Non-Working group constitute

children, students, aged and ailing, retired, unemployed and housewives.


Workers Non-Workers


Number 116 11 127 115 237 352


50.2 4.4 26.5 49.8 95.6 73.5

It is noticed that the Male workers constitute 50.2% while the Female

with 4.4% and the total workers with 26% as against the state work

participation rates of 56.23%, 35.11%, 45.80% of that order. The work

participation rate of the community is far below the state figures especially

the female work participation, which is 8 times below the state female work

rate. The reason could be due to their dependency on traditional occupation

which has no demand in the contemporary society. The non-workers

constitute a diabolic 73.5% to depend on 26.5% workforce. The phenomenon

does show that the community is living with absolute poverty.

- 54 -


S. No

Economic activity

Sex

Number



1

Daily wage in Agri.

Male Female Total

0 1 1

0.0 0.4 0.2

0.0 9.1 0.8

2

Daily wage in Non Agri.

Male Female Total

8 1 9

3.5 0.4 1.9

6.9 9.1 7.1

3

Self employed in Agri

Male Female Total

0 0 0

0.0 0.0 0.0

0.0 0.0 0.0

4

Self employed in Non-Agri

Male Female Total

100 7 107

43.3 2.8 22.3

86.2 63.6 84.2

5

Regular salaried in Govt.

Male Female Total

2 0 2

0.9 0.0 0.4

1.7 0.0 1.6

6


Male Female Total

5 1 6

2.2 0.4 1.3

4.3 9.1 4.7

7

Part time workers

Male Female Total

1 1 2

0.4 0.4 0.4

0.9 9.1 1.6

Grand Total 127 26.5 100.0

About 84% of workers over working population or 22.3% over total

population are engaged as self-employed in non-agriculture activity i.e., their

traditional occupation. Only 6.0% over workers or 1.75% over population is

employed as regular salaried either in Govt. or in Private Establishments. This

shows contemporary educational and economic backwardness of the

community.

- 55 -

5. Economic status:

Description No.of





iii) Kutcha/Huts

18 45 28

19.8 49.5 30.8


i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

88 2 1

96.7 2.2 1.1


17 74

18.7 81.3


41 50

45.1 55.0


70 21

76.9 23.1


31 60

34.1 65.9

e) Percapita income ... Per Annum Rs. 4,950/-

f) Avg. Land holding … 0.0 acres

Agricultural activity is not known to this community as most of them

are living in urban areas and migrate from one place to another in search of

work. Hence, no agricultural land holding is recorded. About 80.3% of

households are living in Semi pucca and Kutcha/ hut dwellings. About 96.7%

households are in possession of white ration cards (below poverty line) 81.3%

of households without land phone or cell phone connectivity, which is a

necessity as their occupation demand the same for occupational business.

55% of households without drinking water facility within premises, 23.1%

households without electricity connected and about 66% of households

without individual sanitary latrines.

The per capita income of the community is just Rs.4,950/- against

the state per capita income of Rs.25,695/- which is just 19% of the state

average.

- 56 -

Sikligars are descendents of Sikh infantry migrated in the year 1830 to

Nizam principality to assist the government in the collection of land revenue.

With the changes of history they took to their traditional occupation in a

different way of making household appliances made of iron and tin metals.

They move from place to place in search of demand for their manufactured

goods. Thus they are nomadic in rural areas and semi nomadic in urban

areas. The commission studied their social and economic conditions in

different parts of A.P. as also during the course of public sittings and

hearings. Sikligar are exclusively engaged in manufacture and sale of iron

domestic utensils and they lead a secluded life in most unhygienic conditions.

The nature of their occupation would require them to move from place to

place and expose to sun and rain with poor returns and they are looked down

by other communities. Due to nomadic character it becomes impossible for

their children to adapt to school going. Their share of Public /Private

Employment is very negligible. The population as claimed by the

representatives is only 5000.

The national Commission for Backward Classes recognized Saikalgar

caste as backward and included in the list of Other Backward Classes.

After careful consideration on the oral and the written representations

of the community by their representationists supported by the sample survey

the A.P. Commission for BCs has come to the conclusion that Sikligar

/Saikalgar community is indeed socially, educationally and economically a

backward community and they are fit to be included in the list of backward

classes and entitled to the benefits envisaged under Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4)

of the constitution of India. For the reasons stated above, considering the

unclean profession and the poor condition of the people and leading nomadic

way of life, Sikligar/Saikalgar community is fit to be included in the list of

Backward Classes under Group – A at Serial No. 51.

- 57 -

(7) SONDI / SUNDI

Sri Kamsu Vasudeva Rao, General Secretary, A.P. Sondi / Sundi caste

welfare Association, Hyderabad submitted representation on 31-3-1994 to the

then Chairman, A.P. Commission for Backward Classes to include Sondi /

Sundi caste in the list of backward classes. It was represented that Sondi /

Sundi caste people were residing in the erstwhile Ganjam District of Orissa.

Their mother tongue is Oriya and they speak Telugu. They are residing in

Hillocks and they migrated from Ganjam to Srikakulam and Vizianagaram.

They are hill tribes and Non-vegetarian. They are socially and educationally

backward. They belong to linguistic minority. One of their customs is widow

remarriages. The estimated population then was about 15,673. They are

educationally backward. Most of them are agricultural coolies. There are only

1009 literates in their community. They are residing in limited areas with less

population. Their community was recognized as aboriginal tribes in

Vishakapatnam and Narsipatnam Agency Areas. Anantaraman Commission did

not include this caste as they could not make representation and they have

been making request since then. Government of A.P. recognized them as

aboriginal tribes. The Mandal commission included this caste in the list of

Other Backward Classes and hence they may be included in the list of

Backward Classes of A.P.

Dr. S. Chitti Babu, president and K. Dhilleswar Rao, General Secretary

of Andhra Pradesh Sondi / Sundi caste Welfare society from Srikakulam also

represented that the Sondi / Sundi caste was included in the Mandal list of

A.P. Sri M. Nooka Raju, the Palasa Cashew Manufacturers Association and P.

Suryanarayana, President, Lions club of Palasa and Kasibugga also submitted

representations. Sri D. Atchuta Ramayya Ex-MLA of Ichapuram and others

also requested for inclusion of the caste. Sri N. Balaji and others from

Vishakapatnam and N. Suryanarayana and others from Kanchili and Sompeta

mandals also submitted their representations. L.N. Panigrahi, president, Oriya

Minorities Welfare Society also submitted representation for inclusion.

- 58 -

On receipt of their representations, a notification dated 31/3/2006 was

issued which was published in the Gazette dated 13/04/2006 and

subsequently, public hearing was held on 22/05/2006. Sri K. Dilleshwar Rao,

General Secretary, Dr. S. Chitti Babu, U. Ganapati Rao, K. Vasudeva Rao,

Krishna Rao and others appeared before the commission and represented

that Sondi / Sundi caste people were recognized as a backward class in the

composite state of Madras and subsequently, after formation of Andhra

Pradesh, the caste was not included in the list of Backward Classes and

treated as forward caste. Most of the people are eking out their livelihood by

doing coolie work and their traditional occupation is distillation of illicit arrack.

They are socially and educationally backward and requested the commission

to recommend their caste for inclusion in the list of backward classes.

The commission deputed a survey team headed by Deputy Director,

statistics and they formulated a format and collected the data. They

conducted door-to-door household sample survey and the particulars

collected are as follows.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:


Investigations including household sample survey during January & March

2007 in Srikakulam & Vishakapatnam districts. The household sample survey

covered 92 Households of the community. The traditional occupation of this

community is stated to be Manufacture & Sale of illicit arrack. Now they are

employed as agricultural coolies.

2. Social Status:

All the 92 Households comprising 337 persons of which 93.5% are

living in rural areas and 6.5% in urban areas. The household size of the

community is 3.7 (persons). The sex ratio 116 Females per 100 Males and for

the age group up to 14 years. The ratio is 120 Females per 100 Males.

- 59 -

Results On Traditional Occupation (T.O.)


Percentage


Yes No

1 91

1.1 98.9



0 46 46

0.0 50.0 50.0


0 47 45

0.0 51.1 48.9


45 0 47

48.9 0.0 51.1

From the above table it is noticed that only one household is now

doing their traditional Occupation i.e., manufacture / sale of country liquor.

About 50% of households reported that they feel inferior by their traditional

Occupation, about 51% of households have felt that they are treated inferior

by others and about 49% of households reported that they have been socially

discriminated in their neighbourhood.


a) Literates and illiterates by sex (7 years & above)


1 Literates No %

102 73.9

88 52.7

190 62.3

2 Illiterates No %

36 26.1

79 47.3

115 37.7

The literacy rate of the community among Male is 73.9%, Female is

52.7% and total is 62.3% as against the state literacy rates of 70.32%,

50.43% and 60.47% respectively. The literacy of the community is a little

above the state literacy.

- 60 -

c) Educational level completed (7 years & above)



1 Below 5th 43 14.1 22.6

2 5th class 63 20.7 33.2

3 7th class 56 18.4 29.5

4 10th class 23 7.5 12.1

5 Inter 4 1.3 2.1

6 Degree 0 0.0 0.0

7 P.Gr. 0 0.0 0.0

8. Pro.Tech. 1 0.3 0.5

All Classes 190 62.3 100.0

Though the literacy rate of the community is found just a little over the

state literacy level, about 60.7% of persons passed up to 10th class and a

negligible 1.6% passed Intermediate and above. No Graduate and Post-

Graduate student is found in the survey of the Community.

d) Literates and dropouts by age group (7 years and above):

S. No Age Group



Drop outs

Percent of dropouts

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 59 56 94.9 18.4 33 56.9 58.9

2 15-24 67 54 80.6 17.7 52 77.6 96.3

3 25-39 80 40 50.0 13.1 40 50.0 100.0

4 40-59 75 36 48.0 11.8 34 45.3 94.4

5 60+ 25 4 16.0 1.3 4 16.0 100.0

All 305 190 62.3 62.3 163 53.4 85.8

The total dropouts from education of the community are 53.4% over

persons or 85.8% over literates. Further the dropouts from the age group

7-14 years are 56.9% over persons or 58.9% over literates which should

otherwise be zero for the Government has provided cost free education as

also compulsory enrolment. The dropouts in the age group of 15-24 are

crucial for study. This is the age group in which the potentiality of

employment in a community can be calculated. The dropout rate is rather

- 61 -

high with 77.6% over persons and 96.3 over literates which show that there

is no progress in education of the community after 10th class. Naturally their

share of employment in public / private sector are almost nil or negligible.

d) Drop-outs from School / College studies with reasons (All-ages)


Dropout Rate


1 Failed 10 5.7 2.9


3 Marriage 17 9.8 5.0

4 To work 6 3.4 1.8

5 Poverty 93 53.4 27.6


All 174 100.0 51.6

About 53% of dropouts due to ‘Poverty’ as a reason and followed by

26% ‘Education not required’ and ‘marriage’ with 10% as reason are noticed.

Thus 56.8% dropouts are due to augmentation of income to the family which

is a symptom of economic backwardness.


The entire surveyed population of Sondi / Sundi community basing on


Working group of people consisting of Daily wage earners, Self-employed,

Regular salaried and part-time workers. The Non-Working group of people

consisting of children, students, aged, retired, ill health, unemployed, and

housewives.


Workers Non-Workers


Number 92 75 167 64 106 170


59.0 41.4 49.5 41.0 58.6 50.5

- 62 -

It is noticed that the percentage of Male workers constitute 59.0%

while that of Female 41.4% and the total workers constitute 49.5% as against

the state work participation rates of 56.23%,35.11%, 45.80% in that order.

The work participation rate of the community is found just above the state

work participation rate. This phenomenon does show that the community is in

abstract poverty whereby stress is seen on every family made to work for a

living.


S. No

Economic activity

Sex

Number



1

Daily wage in Agri.

Male Female Total

44 37 81

28.2 20.4 24.0

47.8 49.3 48.5

2


Male Female Total

16 5 21

10.3 2.8 6.2

17.4 6.7 12.6

3


Male Female Total

3 1 4

1.9 0.6 1.2

3.3 1.3 2.4

4


Male Female Total

25 14 39

16.0 7.7 11.6

27.2 18.7 23.3

5


Male Female Total

0 0 0

0.0 0.0 0.0

0.0 0.0 0.0

6


Male Female Total

4 2 6

2.6 1.1 1.8

4.3 2.7 3.6

7

Part time workers

Male Female Total

0 16 16

0.0 8.8 4.7

0.0 21.3 9.6

Grand Total 167 49.5 100.0

About 30.2% of population are workers and 61.1% of workers are

engaged as daily wage earners in Agriculture and Non - Agriculture sectors

for their livelihood. There is no Government employee recorded in the survey.

However it is noticed that 1.8% of workers over all population or 3.6% of

workers are Regular Salaried in private sector. Though they are salaried

- 63 -

employees, they may be in the last grade due to their obvious educational

status. About 11.6% over all population or 23.3% of workers are self

employed in non agricultural activities which show that the community people

are doing small business with an overall percapita income of Rs. 3,204 per

annum. This community is indeed reeling under multi dimensionality of

poverty.

5. Economic status:

Description No. of

Households





iii) Kutcha/Hutss

14 29 49

15.2 31.5 53.3


i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

88 0 4

95.7 0.0 4.3


4 88

4.3 95.7


5 87

5.4 94.6


52 40

56.5 43.5


12 80

13.0 87.0

e) Percapita income Rs 3,204/-Per Annum

f) Avg. Land holding 0.08 acres.

About 84.8% of households of the community are living in semi pucca

/ Kutcha houses and about 96% of households are having white ration cards.

About 96% of households have no telephone or cell phone connectivity and

about 95% of households are without drinking water with in their premises.

About 44% of households without electricity connected as against state

- 64 -

average 77.75% and about 87% of households having no individual sanitary

latrines.

The average land holding of the community is 0.08 Acres and the per

capita income of the community is just Rs 3,204/- against the state per capita

income Rs 25,695/-.

Sondhi is an Oriya speaking caste of Toddy sellers found mostly in

Srikakulam district. The name Sondi / Sundi has its origin in the Sanskrit word

shaundik, meaning spirit-seller. They also distil arrack. Remarriage is

permissible for male as well as female divorcees, widowers and widows. The

Sondi / Sundi are mainly a landowning community and practice settled

cultivation. Many of them are engaged in their traditional occupation of

distilling liquor. They are spread in the North Eastern part of the state

comprising Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Vishakapatnam districts. The

Mandal Commission recognized this caste as a Backward Class and included in

the list of Other Backward Classes of Andhra Pradesh. The State of Orissa

also recognized this caste as backward and included in the list of Backward

Classes. They are also recognized as aboriginal tribes in Vishakapatnam and

Narsipatnam Agency Areas. The Commission toured Srikakulam, Vizianagaram

and Vishakapatnam districts personally where the Sondi / Sundi people are

residing to assess their socio-economic conditions. The survey results did

reveal that though the literacy rate is high just on par with State average. The

post matriculates are very less. The school / college dropout rate is high. It is

observed that they are looked down by society around them. Most of them

live in semi-pucca and Kutcha huts and 96% possess white ration cards. Most

of them live in unhygienic conditions. Most of them are engaged as daily

wage earners in agriculture and non agriculture sector. The salaried persons

are insignificant. The percapita income is very low when compared to the

state percapita income. Their living conditions are pathetic and they do not

have basic amenities. They do not have any political representations in their

community. Most of them are below poverty line. They are not at all

- 65 -

represented in Government services as per survey. The estimated population

is about 32,900

The Commission after due deliberations relying on the observations of

Thurston and “People of India Series”, the household sample survey and the

personal inspection came to the conclusion that Sondi / Sundi caste is

socially and educationally backward and fit to be included in the list of

Backward Classes for the purpose of Articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of the

Constitution of India and hence we recommend the Government to include

this caste under Group – D at S. No.42 in the list of Backward Classes.

- 66 -

(8) VARALA

Sri K. R. Dasharatha Rao, Convenor, Andhra Pradesh Varala, Thogra

Balija, Bholla Sangham submitted representation dated 25/06/1994 that their

caste people in Telangana area are called as “Varala”. They migrated from

northern parts to Andhra Pradesh. Some people are engaged in preparation of

colours from the bark of Thogara tree and dying work. Some are engaged as

agricultural labourers. They are socially and educationally backward and

hence they may be included in the list of Backward Classes. Pavushetty

Vaikuntam, Parakal, Warangal District also represented to the commission for

inclusion. Sri G.S Narayana of Warangal also submitted his representation for

inclusion in the list of backward classes. Varala community people are residing

in Telangana, Rayalaseema and coastal districts where they are called Thogra

Balija and in Telangana areas they are called Varala & Rangregi. Sri S.

Satyanarayana, President, Varala Yuvajana Sangham, also represented for

inclusion. Sri Papeshetty Surender of Hasanparthi and B. Nagaraju of

Myalavaram of Krishna district and others represented before the commission.

On receipt of the above representations the commission issued

notification dated 31-03-2006 calling for representations, objections and

suggestions and the caste people submitted similar representations.

Subsequently public hearing was conducted on 22-05-2006 on which date

P.Vaikuntam, Koppula Ramulu, Jayaprakash, D.Mandaiah, K.Anandhaiah,

B.Srinivas, S.Ventakaramarao, B.Bhumaiah, and others appeared before the

commission and contended that Varala community people are socially and

educationally backward and prayed for inclusion in the list of backward class.

As per the representation dated 04/05/2006, the present population of this

caste is about 2,00,451.

The commission deputed survey team headed by Deputy Director

Statistics. The household sample survey was conducted and the survey results

are as follows.

- 67 -

Survey Results

1. Introduction:


Investigations including sample household survey during June, 2007 in

Warangal and Karimnagar districts. The sample household survey covered 84

Households of this community. The traditional occupation of this community

is stated as dying and agricultural labour.

2. Social Status:

The survey took a sample size of 84 Households comprising of 329

persons of which 57% are living in rural areas and the rest 43% are living in

urban areas.



Percentage


Yes No

8 76

9.5 90.5



0 39 45

0.0 46.4 53.6


0 36 48

0.0 42.9 57.1


30 7 47

35.7 8.3 56.0

As can be seen in the above table, only 10% of the households are still

living on their traditional occupation. About 46.4% households have stated

that their traditional occupation is inferior and 42.9% have reported that

others treat their occupation as inferior. As many as 35.7% have reported

that they are socially discriminated in their neighborhood.

- 68 -


a) Literates and illiterates by Sex:


1 Literates No %

130 81.8

77 55.0

207 69.2

2 Illiterates No %

29 18.2

63 45.0

92 30.8

Male literacy of the Community is 82% while that of female is 55% and

total is 69% as against the state literacy rates of 70.32%, 50.43% and

60.47% respectively. The literacy rate of the Community is recorded just

above the state literacy rates.

e) Educational level completed (7 years & above)

Percentage over S. No Class Passed No. of persons Population Literates

1 Below 5th 49 16.4 23.7

2 5th class 32 10.7 15.4

3 7th class 54 18.1 26.1

4 10th class 46 15.4 22.2

5 Inter 18 6.0 8.7

6 Degree 7 2.3 3.4

7 P.Gr. 1 0.3 0.5

8. Pro.Tech. 0 0.0 0.0

All Classes 207 69.2 100.0

The literates of the Community upto Matriculation passed are 60.6%

over population or 87.4% over literates but the Post Matriculation passed are

only 8.6% over population or 12.6% over literates. It is recorded in the

survey that there is only one person passed Post-Graduation from the

community. The Post Matriculation passed are very few in the community

whereby their share in public / private sector employment in salaried class

naturally be negligible.

- 69 -


S. No Age Group



Drop outs

Percent of dropouts

Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 52 51 98.1 17.1 2 3.8 3.9

2 15-24 73 69 94.5 23.1 44 60.3 63.8

3 25-39 83 57 68.7 19.1 55 66.3 96.5

4 40-59 63 22 34.9 7.4 21 33.3 95.5

5 60+ 28 8 28.6 2.7 8 28.6 100.0

All 299 207 69.2 69.2 130 43.5 62.8

It is noticed from the above table that about 44% dropouts over

population or 63% dropouts over literates of the Community are recorded.

However the dropouts from education in the age-group 7-14 years are

noticed about 4% over persons and same percentage over literates. The

dropout rate in the age group of 15-24 is high with 60.3% over persons or

63.8% over literates. This phenomenon indicates that the community has little

scope for employment in public / private sector as salaried class.



Dropout Rate


1 Failed 6 4.6 1.8


1 0.8 0.3

3 Marriage 18 13.8 5.5

4 To work 44 33.8 13.4

5 Poverty 53 40.8 16.1


All 130 100.0 39.5

As can be seen in the above table, the dropouts for the reasons “to

work” and “poverty” put together accounts for 74.6% which shows that due

to lack of financial support huge dropout rate is recorded which itself is a

symptom of accurate economic backwardness of this community.

- 70 -


The entire surveyed population of “Varala” community basing on their

economic activity is divided into Working and Non Working groups. The

Working group is consisting of Daily wage earners, Self-employed, Regular

salaried and part-time workers while the Non-Working group of people

consisting of children, students, aged, retired, ill health, unemployed and

housewives.


Workers Non-Workers


Number 100 52 152 77 100 177


56.5 34.2 46.2 43.5 65.8 53.8

It is noticed that the Male workers constitute 56.5% whereas Female

workers is 34.2% and the total workers is 46.2% as against the state work

participation rates of 56.23%, 35.11% and 45.80% in that order. On

comparison it can be noticed that the percentages are slightly below the state

work participation rates.

- 71 -


S. No Economic activity Sex Number Percent to

Total pop.

Percent to

Workers-

population

1 Daily wage in Agri. Male

Female

Total

39

32

71

22.0

21.0

21.6

39.0

61.5

46.7

2 Daily wage in Non Agri. Male

Female

Total

18

3

21

10.2

2.0

6.4

18.0

5.8

13.8

3 Self employed in Agri Male

Female

Total

4

0

4

2.3

0.0

1.2

4.0

0.0

2.6

4 Self employed in Non-Agri Male

Female

Total

21

7

28

12.0

4.6

8.5

21.0

13.5

18.4

5 Regular salaried in Govt. Male

Female

Total

7

0

7

3.9

0.0

2.1

7.0

0.0

4.6

6 Regular salaried in Pvt. Male

Female

Total

11

0

11

6.2

0.0

3.3

11.0

0.0

7.3

7 Part time workers Male

Female

Total

0

10

10

0.0

6.6

3.0

0.0

19.2

6.6

Grand Total 152 46.2 100.0

From the above table it is seen that the workers of the Community are

engaged in all the above economic activities for their livelihood. About 28% of

workers over population or 61% over workers are engaged in daily wage

- 72 -

earners in Agriculture and Non-Agriculture. But only 2% over population or

5% over workers are employed in Govt. services and 3% over population or

7% over workers are employed in Private sector as regular salaried. This is

due to reason that the community is educationally backward which ultimately

paved for economic backwardness.

5. Economic status:

Description No. of

Households




i) Pucca

ii) Semi pucca

iii) Kutcha/Huts

35

40

9

41.7

47.6

10.7


i) White

ii) Pink

iii) No card

71

10

3

84.5

11.9

3.6

d) Facilities/Amenities:

i) Phone – Having connected

Not having Phone

15

69

17.9

82.1

ii) Drinking water in the – Yes

premises of households No

52

32

61.9

38.1

iii) Electricity connection Yes

No

78

6

92.8

7.2

iv) Toilet within the premises Yes

No

46

38

54.8

45.2

v) Percapita income = … Per Annum

vi) Avg. Land holding = … acres.

- 73 -

Though 27% of households are in possession of Agriculture land, the

average land holding size of the Community is a meager 0.32 Acres. About

58.3% of households live in semi pucca / kutcha houses, about 85% of

households are having white ration cards, about 82% of households are not

having land telephone / cell phone connectivity, about 38% of households are

without drinking water provision within their premises, about 45% of

households are without individual sanitary latrines. The per capita income of

the Community is recorded very low at Rs. 7860 against the state per capita

income of Rs. 25695

An association called Andhra Pradesh Varala, Thogra Balija and Bholla

Sangham, Hyderabad sought for recognizing Varala, Thogra Balija and Bholla

as backward classes and to include them in the said list. We have carefully

examined all the oral and written representations. The contention of the

Sangham is that these castes are like Munnur Kapu, Pathi Balija and Balija

Families.

The word Varala in Telugu would mean that a person works for a week

in one family and thereafter he will work with another family and these

people will be working on weekly basis with different families. Long ago they

migrated to Nizam state and they have been eking out their livelihood and

working on weekly basis with the landlords. Most of them are employed as

agricultural coolies and attending to the domestic needs. The Commission

observed that all people residing in Telangana region are uneducated,

economically poor and socially backward. The survey conducted by this

Commission would reveal that they are socially and educationally backward.

Further they are not adequately represented in Government services. They

are also economically poor. Most of them live in semi pucca / kutcha houses

possessing white ration cards without basic amenities. They are living in

unhygienic conditions. Most of them are daily wage earners and their

percapita income is very low when compared to the state per capita income.

- 74 -

They are not having political representation also. Most of them are living

below poverty line.

The Commission after due deliberations relying on the survey reports

personal inspection, oral and written representations of the representationists

come to the conclusion that Varala community people living in Telangana

areas are socially and educationally backward and fit to be included in the list

of Backward Classes. The persons who are living in Rayalaseema and coastal

areas who are called as Thogra Balija and Bholla have to be dealt with

separately at a later point of time. The Mandal Commission also recognized

Varala is a backward community and included in the list of Backward Classes

at S. No. 279.

On cumulative consideration of all the above factors, we come to the

conclusion that Varala community living in Telangana region are socially and

educationally backward and therefore we recommend to the Government to

include Varala caste / community to be included under Group – D at

S. No. 43 in the list of Backward Classes and the area of operation shall be

confined to Telangana region only.

- 75 -

(9) SISTAKARANAM

A.P. Sistakarana Association by its President, Tumbali Srinivas Rao and

General Secretary A.V.Jagannath Rao Patnaik submitted memorandum dated

11-04-1994 to the then, Chairman, A.P. Commission for Backward Classes

representing that the Mandal commission was pleased to include

Sistakaranam community in the list of Backward Classes at S.No.247.

Sistakaranam community migrated from Orissa to Andhra Pradesh and the

said community is socially and educationally backward. Their total population

is about 1% of total population of the state and they are spread all over the

state. Majority of them are residing in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and

Vishakapatnam districts. They are called as Chittikaranam in all coastal

districts mainly in East & West Godavari and coastal districts and Krishna,

Guntur, Prakasham and Nellore districts. In Rayalaseema districts they are

called as Karanams. In the composite State of Madras this community was

included in the list of backward Classes and it continued till G.O.Ms. No. 1793

dated 23-09-1970 was issued. Since then Sistakaranam Association has been

submitting their representations for inclusion as their caste was omitted

erroneously. After the abolition of hereditary Village Officers Act, most of the

Sistakaranams are thrown on the roads with begging bowls and they could

not secure their livelihood. Some are working as agricultural labourers,

Pleaders’, Clerks, Account keepers and domestic servants etc. They do not

own lands or carry on business or trade. They are economically backward and

they are living below poverty line. They live in Kutcha houses, mostly rented.

They are not adequately represented in Government jobs. They are not

politically represented. Since they are socially, economically, educationally and

politically backward they may be included in the list of backward classes.

Srikakulam District Sistakaranam Association represented by its

president, Sri B.V. Narasimha Rao and Gen. Secretary, K. Sangameswara Rao

have also submitted the memorandum dated 01-05-1994. Tekkali Mandal

- 76 -

Sistakaranam Association, Tekkali represented by its president, Sri N. Tirupati

Das and Secretary M. Nagesh Kumar submitted their memorandum dated

02-05-1994. Amadalavalasa Taluk Sistakaranam Association, Amadalavalasa,

Ichapuram Sistakaranam Association, Ichapuram and others sent similar

representations for inclusion. Vishakapatnam City Sistakarana Assocaition,

Vishakapatnam also submitted a memorandum dated 14-05-1994. Dr. K.V.R.

Chowdary, the then Member of Parliament, Rajahmundary constituency also

forwarded their representations.

After the Commission was reconstituted a notification dated

31/03/2006 was issued which was published in A.P. Gazette dated

13/04/2006 calling for representations, objections and suggestions and the

caste representatives submitted their representations. Subsequently, the

Commission held public hearing on 22/05/2006. At the time of public hearing

Sri B. Kalyanaram, President, and A.V. Jagannath Rao, Gen. Secretary,

Vishaka District Sistakaranam Association, Vishakapatnam, K.Ramachandra

Murthy, V.B. Prasad Patnaik, Srikakulam, S. Murali Bhagvan, Vizianagaram,

and B. Srirama Murthy of Vizianagaram and others appeared before the

Commission and pleaded for inclusion of the said caste.

The Commission deputed a survey team to conduct household sample

survey to assess the social, educational, economic and political conditions of

the people.

Survey Results

1. Introduction:


Investigations including sample household survey during January & March

2007 in Srikakulam, Vishakapatnam & Vizianagaram districts. The sample

Survey covered 65 House-holds of this community. The traditional occupation

- 77 -

of this community is recorded as Karanalu or karanam in erstwhile revenue

system of the state.

2. Social Status:

The survey covered 65 Households comprising 251 persons, of which

32.3% are living in rural areas and the rest 67.7% live in urban areas, with a

household size 3.9 or 4 (persons). The sex ratio of the community is 113

Females per 100 Males; and for age group upto 14 years, the ratio is 96

females per 100 male children.


Item Remarks No of

Households Percentage


Yes No

0 65

0.0 100.0



4 1 60

6.2 1.5 92.3


8 0 57

12.3 0.0 87.7


0 10 55

0.0 15.4 84.6

It is noticed that no household of the community is attending to their

traditional occupation as the present revenue system made karanams part of

work as obsolete. No social stigma such as social discrimination or being

looked down by others is noticed as the Karanams in the erstwhile fudal

village system were Government employees.

- 78 -


a) Literates and illiterates by Sex:(7 years & above)


1 Literates No %

94 85.5

99 78.6

193 81.8

2 Illiterates No %

16 14.5

27 21.4

43 18.2

The male literacy rate of the community is 85.5% while that of Females is

78.6% and both put together is 81.8% as against state literacy rate 70.32%,

50.43% and 60.47% respectively. The literacy rate of the community is

recorded just above the state literacy rate due to the fact that the

Sistakaranam community were scribes / maintainers of revenue records /

revenue collectors at the bottom rung of revenue administration. Naturally

they had to be good at education to hold such post at village revenue system.


Percentage over S. No

Class Passed

No. of persons Population Literates

1 Below 5th 19 8.1 9.9

2 5th class 40 17.0 20.7

3 7th class 48 20.3 24.9

4 10th class 51 21.6 26.4

5 Inter 18 7.6 9.3

6 Degree 14 5.9 7.3

7 P.Gr. 2 0.8 1.0

8. Pro.Tech. 1 0.4 0.5

All Classes 193 81.8 100.0

Among the literates of the community, upto Matriculation passed are

67% over population or 82% over literates. The balances of 14.7% or 18%

over literates are Post Matriculation passed. The percentage of post

matriculation passed comparatively less due to the reason that the

community could not provide higher education to their children as the total

community was retrenched from Government services during the tenure of

the Chief Ministership of Sri N.T.Rama Rao.

- 79 -



Percent of dropouts

S. No Age Group

Population Total

Literates Among Age Group

Over Total Pop.

Drop outs from Edn.

Over Persons

Over Literates

1 7-14 38 36 94.7 15.3 13 34.2 36.1

2 15-24 58 51 87.9 21.6 34 58.6 66.7

3 25-39 70 58 82.9 24.6 51 72.9 87.9

4 40-59 55 41 74.5 17.4 39 70.9 95.1

5 60+ 15 7 46.7 3.0 5 33.3 71.4

All 236 193 81.8 81.8 142 60.2 73.6

Among the literates of the community it is noticed that 60.0% of the

dropouts from education in over all population or 74% amongst literates. The

rate of dropouts is seen increasing with the age. The dropout rate in the age

group 7-14 is recorded at 34.2% over persons and 36.1% over literates which

is on par with other B.C. communities. So also the dropout rate in the age

group 15-24 with 58.6% over persons or 66.7% over literates. The reason for

this high dropout rate in the crucial age group15-24 may be due to

incapacitated position of the community due to sudden dislocation of their

economic position in the newly developed revenue reformation.



Dropout Rate


1 Failed 11 7.4 4.4


29 19.6 11.5

3 Marriage 23 15.5 9.2

4 To work 18 12.2 7.2

5 Poverty 62 41.9 24.7


All 148 100.0 59.0

- 80 -

From the above table it is noticed that 54% among the dropouts are

due to the reasons of ‘poverty’ and “to work” followed by “Education-not

required” with 19.6% and “Marriage” reason with 15.5%. Strange enough to

note that 19.6% have stated that “education is not required”. The community

once educationally forward is now in the oblivion of perception on the values

of education. This shows that they are educationally backward and naturally

followed by economic backwardness.


The entire surveyed population of Sistakaranam community basing on


Working group of people is consisting of Daily wage earners, Self-employed,

Regular salaried and part-time workers and the Non-Working group of people

consisting of children, students, aged, retired, ill health, unemployed and

housewives.

a) Working and Non-Working groups of people by sex is as follows. Workers Non-Workers

Item Male Female Total Male Female Total

Number 75 32 107 43 101 144


63.5 24.1 42.6 36.4 75.9 57.4

It is noticed that the percentage of Male workers constitute 63.5%,

while that of Female 24.1% and the total workers with 42.6% as against the

state work participation rates of 56.23%, 35.11%, 45.8% respectively. The

male work participation rate of the community is quite above the state work

participation rate but the rest are below state averages. The female work

participation is very below the state average for the reason that the

community is in transitional period from riches to rags as such the community

/ society does not allow the female to participate in menial works.

- 81 -


S. No

Economic activity

Sex

Number



1

Daily wage in Agri.

Male Female Total

7 4 11

5.9 3.0 4.4

9.3 12.5 10.3

2


Male Female Total

20 8 28

17.0 6.0 11.1

26.7 25.0 26.2

3


Male Female Total

0 0 0

0.0 0.0 0.0

0.0 0.0 0.0

4


Male Female Total

24 5 29

20.3 3.8 11.5

32.0 15.6 27.1

5


Male Female Total

6 1 7

5.1 0.8 2.8

8.0 3.1 6.5

6


Male Female Total

17 4 21

14.4 3.0 8.4

22.7 12.5 19.6

7

Part time workers

Male Female Total

1 10 11

0.8 7.5 4.4

1.3 31.3 10.3

Grand Total 107 42.6 100.0

The people of this community are engaged on all the above economic

activities for their livelihood except ‘Self employed in Agriculture’ activities. It

is found that 36% over working population are engaged as daily wage

earners in Agriculture and Non-Agriculture Sectors. About 3% of persons

employed as Govt. servants and 8% of persons employed in private sector as

regular salaried. This phenomenon shows that they are economically

backward on par with other backward class / communities.

- 82 -

5. Economic status:

Description No. of





iii) Kutcha/Huts

26 23 16

40.0 35.4 24.6


i) White ii) Pink

iii) No card

51 7 7

78.5 10.8 10.8


17 48

26.2 73.8


19 46

29.2 70.8


56 9

86.2 13.8


28 37

43.1 56.9

e) Percapita income Rs 8,881/-Per Annum

f) Avg. Land holding 0.02 acres.

About 60% of households are residing in semi pucca / kutcha (huts)

houses, about 78% of households are possessing white ration cards, about

74% of households are not having telephone or cell phone connectivity, about

71% of households are without drinking water connections within their

premises and about 57% of households are without individual sanitary

latrines. The community average landholding size is as low as 0.02 acres

which is on par with any Backward Classes community.

The per capita income of the community is Rs 8,881/- as against the

state per capita income of Rs 25,695/-.

- 83 -

The Sistakaranam were traditionally engaged as Village Accountants,

in the north coastal districts. Their synonyms are Srishtakarnam, Karanalu

and Patnaiks. Sistra or Srishta means neat and clean, and Karnam means

‘accountant’. The Sista Karnam, though an accountant in a village by virtue of

his education, was generally the ultimate authority in the village,

appropriation to himself the title ‘patnaik’ as a community distinction. The

word Naik signifies a head of town or village. It is also said that these people

were originally the natives of Ganjam and Koraput districts of Orissa and

Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Vishakapatnam districts of coastal Andhra

Pradesh long before the formation of Orissa state. It was represented by

them that the approximate population of the community is 6,21,286. But as

per SEESCAP survey they are about 78,600.

With the abolition of the hereditary Village Officers Act these

community people are not engaged in their traditional occupation but they

are eking out their livelihood by employing themselves in petty jobs such as

agricultural coolies, working in Kirana shops, lorry cleaners, tailors, pleader

clerks, domestic servants, rickshaw pullers etc. The survey results would

reveal that though the literacy rate of the community is just above the State

literacy, there are not many post graduates or post matriculates and the

dropout rate is also high and thus they are educationally backward. They are

engaged as daily wage earners in agriculture and non agriculture sectors.

Their participation in Government jobs is very negligible which would prove

that they are economically backward on par with other backward

communities. About 60% of the households are residing in semi pucca /

kutcha houses, about 78% of the households are possessing white ration

cards, about 74% of the households do not have basic amenities and their

percapita income is also very low when compared to state level. The

Commission personally toured the areas where the community people are

residing and found that most of them live below poverty line and their

economic conditions is not satisfactory. They are not adequately represented

in Government services and there is no political representation. This caste

- 84 -

was recognized as Backward Class and included at S. No.247 by the Mandal

Commission.

The Commission on a close examination of all the representations both

oral and written, personal inspection of the people and with the survey

reports, came to the conclusion that Sistakaranam community people are

socially and educationally backward for the purpose of Articles 15 (4) and

16 (4) of the Constitution of India and fit to be included in the list of

Backward Classes under Group – D at S.No. 44 and we recommend to the

Government accordingly.

- 85 -

(10) LAKKAMARI KAPU

K. Mallaiah, President of Lakkamari Kapu Sangham, Venkatraopally,

Karimnagar district, K. Raghu, Sarpanch of Nilojipally village, Vaddepally,

P.Ashok Babu of Gangadevi palli, M. Raji Reddy of Vaddepally, Hanamkonda

and others gave representations dated 28-12-1995 to the then chairman, A.P.

Commission for Backward Classes contending that they have been eking out

their livelihood by collecting lack (Lakka) from forest and sell them in the

market. Since they have been selling lack (Lakka) they are called as

Lakkamari Kapu. Subsequently they have been working as agricultural coolies

and watching cattle and crops. They are residing in Karimnagar, Warangal

and Khammam districts. They are socially and educationally backward and

they are looked down by others. They are not politically represented. They

are not adequately represented in Government services. Hence they

requested for inclusion in the list of Backward Classes. The approximate

population in the year 1995 was about 38,000. At present they are working as

agricultural coolies. They used to take the cattle for grazing and also look

after the agricultural operation. G. Rajesam Goud, the then Chairman, Zilla

Perishad, Karimnagar, submitted his representation to the Commission

requesting to include Lakkamari Kapu caste in the list of Backward Classes.

Birudu Rajamallu, the then MLA, Peddapally constitutency Karimnagar district

also requested for the inclusion of the said caste. Ch. Rajeshwar Rao, MLA

also made similar request for inclusion. Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Minister for

Major and Medium Irrigation, Juvvadi Rathnakar Rao, Minister for

Endowments, Stamps and Registration, B. Venkateshwarulu, the then

Chairman Zilla Parishad, Warangal district, Yarraballi Dayakar Rao, the then

MLA, Vardhannapeta, Warangal district and others requested the Commission

for inclusion of said caste in the list of Backward Classes.

After the present Commission was reconstituted a notification dated

17-10-2007 was issued calling for representations, suggestions and objection

and they sent similar representations. Subsequently on 15-11-2007 public

hearing was conducted. Manda Rajamallu, Gopalapuram, Gone Srinivas S/o

- 86 -

Ramulu, Rudravaram, Hanumula Narsaiah and Musuku Raju S/o Chinna

Komaraiah, Yedullapuram appeared before the Commission and pleaded for

inclusion. There were no objectors opposing for inclusion of this caste.

The Commission deputed the survey team to assess the living

conditions of the people and to conduct household sample survey. The socio

educational and economic report together with the statistical data collected by

the survey team is as follows:

ORIGIN OF THE COMMUNITY :

The survey team of the A.P. Commission for Backward classes

comprising of Deputy Director (Statistics) and Asst. Statistical Officer has

extensively conducted random household survey in Karimnagar and Warangal

districts during January, 2009. In course of deliberations with the community

elders, it has been informed that the nomenclature of the community

LAKKAMARI KAPU has come into existence as the community people used to

collect “LAK” which is a form of residue of certain kind of larva which is to

feed on certain trees. In addition to collection of LAK, the community people

also said to have been collecting certain forest produce and use to trade the

same in the nearby villages. Though LAK is not a forest produce in Andhra

Pradesh. It is generally believed that the community might have been

migrated from Maharastra long away. To give strength to migration theory of

the community from Maharastra, the marriage alliances are with Maharastra

counterparts are still in vogue. There is another anecdote of amusement that

the community people have indeed constructed the LAK palace for the

destruction of Pandavas where by they have been cursed to live like

squalidity. Upon close examination of the community concentration, it has

been observed that they are living mostly in remote hamlets of revenue

villages / Mandals mostly nearer to reserved forests which give strength to

the theory that they are indeed lived on trading the forest produce with the

nearby villages/towns in the remote part.

- 87 -

DESIGN OF HOUSEHOLD SURVEY: The Andhra Pradesh commission for backward classes in its meeting

held on 02-01-2009, unanimously resolved to depute the survey team of the

commission to cull - out data on the socio, educational and economic aspects

of certain communities and the LAKKAMARI KAPU community was one among

them ordered to be surveyed. A new schedule was designed for the purpose

and was agreed to by the commission for the use of fresh surveys on the

communities for which notification/hearings in the commission had long been

over. As the LAKKAMARI KAPU community representationists have submitted

to commission the minute details of households concentration, village wise,

Mandal-wise and district wise, the multi stage random household survey on

LAKKAMARI KAPU community was conducted as first of its kind with new

schedule during January, 2009 in Karimnagar and Warangal districts. A total

of 112 households were selected by random and surveyed of which the urban

samples are of the order of 7 households only.

SURVEY RESULTS

The total population covered by the survey is 389 of which the male

constitute 192 persons and rests 197 are females. The sex ratio is recorded

as103 females per 100 males and the household size is recorded as 3.5

persons.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BACKWARDNESS:

S. No. Questions Answers No. %

1 Household feeling on the caste Superiority/Inferiority

Inferior 107 95.5

Normal 5 4.5

Superior 0 0.0

Total 112

2 Whether the caste is looked down by the society

Yes 106 94.6

No 6 5.4

Total 112

3 Whether the caste people are dwelling in discriminated locality

Yes 37 33.0

- 88 -

No 75 67.0

Total 112

4 Whether milk is purchased for household purpose

Yes 82 73.2

No 30 26.8

Total 112

5 Whether newspaper is purchased

Yes 6 5.4

No 106 94.6

Total 112

6 Whether the household is living in a rented house or own house

Rented 7 6.3

Own 105 93.8

Total 112

7 Average plinth area of the house is between 150 and 300 sq. ft.

8 Kind of house

RCC 7 6.3

Tiled 100 89.3

Tiled / Tatched 5 4.5

Total 112

9 Provision of bathroom

Yes 20 17.9

No 92 82.1

Total 112

10 Provision of individual sanitary latrines

Yes 14 12.5

No 98 87.5

Total 112

11 Provision of drinking water tap within premises

Yes 47 42.0

No 65 58.0

Total 112

12 How long to go to collect drinking water On an average 150 to 200 meters to fetch drinking water from

13 Whether the house is electrified

Yes 105 93.8

No 7 6.3

Total 112

14 Fuel used for cooking purpose

Gas 7 6.3

Purchased fire wood 5 4.5

Firewood by own 100 89.3

- 89 -

collection

Total 112

15 Fan facility in home

Yes 94 83.9

No 18 16.1

Total 112

16 Phone connectivity including cell phones

Yes 10 8.9

No 102 91.1

Total 112

17 Ration cards

No cards 9 8.0

White cards 101 90.2

Pink cards 2 1.8

Total 112

18 Political power of the community No person of the community is of any level of political entity.

19 Appearance of the household members with regard to dress and footwear

Poor appearance 101 90.2

Middle class appearance 11 9.8

Rich appearance 0 0.0

Total 112

20 Ornaments with precious metal observed

Poorly bejeweled 108 96.4

Reasonable bejeweled 4 3.6

No jewelry 0 0.0

Total 112

21 Hygienic conditions of the surroundings of the household

Slum 98 87.5

Middle class 14 12.5

Posh locality 0 0.0

Total 112

22 House holds take part in intoxication on certain social/religious occasion

Yes 95 84.8

No 17 15.2

Total 112

23 Whether the community is discriminated in the local functions/festivals

Yes 80 71.4

No 32 28.6

Total 112 100.0

- 90 -

24 Practice of Widow remarriages

Yes 33 29.5

No 79 70.5

Total 112

25 Practice of child marriages

Yes 111 99.1

No 1 0.9

Total 112

26 Feeling on disclosure of own caste among advanced caste people

Feel shame to disclose 112 100.0

Do not feel shame to disclose

0 0.0

Total 112

27 Ability to resist atrocities by advance caste people

Do not have Guts 108 96.4

Having guts 4 3.6

Total 112

The above table gives clear picture of certain variables under social

and economic aspects of backwardness which is summed up as detailed

below.

The community certainly feels that they are inferior by virtue of the

caste as compared to other advanced castes in their localities. A whopping

95.5% of the households have indicated that they are inferior by caste. As

regards society’s treatment on the caste, again a large number of households

(94.6%) have stated that they are looked down by the society around them.

As regards the dwellings of the community, it has been observed that their

concentration is mostly in the remote hamlets away from both the revenue

village and Mandal headquarters. Probably the community had adopted a

kind of living away from the habitations of advanced castes to avoid social

skirmishes followed by persecution. 33% of the households have stated that

they are living in discriminated locality mostly with caste concentrations and

67% negatives the same. Purchase of milk for the daily use of household has

been taken as a tool to measure economic advancement in rural sector.

Contrary to the general presumption, 73.2% of the households have stated

- 91 -

that they are purchasing milk only for drinking tea which is an addiction

generally seen among the people of Telangana area. Only 26.8% have stated

no to purchasing of milk. A large size of 94.6% households has reported that

they do not purchase newspaper nor can read. Only 5.4% of households are

buying newspapers who are urban oriented. Almost all the village households

are living in their own house with a plinth area between 150 and 300 sq. ft.

mostly with single room facility. 89.3% of the houses are made of mud walls

with tiled roofs a general seen in the typical village of Telangana districts.

Only 6.3% houses are seen with R.C.C. top and 4.5% of houses with both

tiled and thatched kind. 82.1% households are not having bathrooms and

87.5% are not having individual sanitary latrines. Though marginal

percentage of households having bathrooms and latrines they are not pakka

made and without doors and open top. About 48% of the households have

no tap connection in their homes and they have to cover a distance of 150 to

200 meters to fetch bore or tap water. Only 6.3% of households were not

electrified. As much as 89.3% of households have reported that their means

for cooking is firewood collected by them. Only 6.3% of households mostly in

urban area are using gas for cooking purpose. In general terms though the

entire community is found to be poor yet almost every family is fitted with a

ceiling fan with 83.9%. Only 16.1% are not having fan in the homes. On

enquiry it has been informed that the fan has become most essential part of

their living to ward away mosquitoes with its wind otherwise they cannot

even sleep for a while. In the age of telecommunication the usage of cell

phones/land phones has become a must even for a common man. But the

community is availing only 8.9% and the rest 91.1% have no connectivity

which clearly shows that they are most backward in the area of

communication. About 90.2% households are availing white ration cards, 8%

having no cards and 1.8% have pink ration cards. For the first time data on

political power of the community was collected. During the survey, the team

did not come across a single Surpanch from the community let alone other

higher ups in political arena. Their political power of the community is almost

nil as per survey findings.

- 92 -

The appearance of the rural folk is dismal as they wore shady clothes

and almost no footwear. So also the general appearance of woman folk with

ornaments is also observed as poorly bejeweled with very minimum

ornaments of precious metals. A large number of households with 87.5% are

living in slum surroundings. It is quite interesting to note that 84.8% of

households take rejoice by intoxicating drinks like thadi/gudumba during

festivities and household functions enmass. About 71.4% households have

reported that they are discriminated in the local functions and festivals.

The Practice of widow remarriages among the community is in vogue

provided they do not possess children. The practice of child marriages is very

common with a whopping 99.1%. Almost all the households have reported

that they feel shame in exposing their caste among advanced castes and they

do not have guts to repulse atrocities committed on them by the forward

castes.

EDUCATION DETAILS OF THE COMMUNITY :

S. No. Description MALE FEMALE TOTAL % to Total

1 Children the age group of 0 to 5 9 12 21 5.4

2 Never been to school 78 108 186 47.8

3 Upto primary level 60 44 104 26.7

4 Upto secondary level 34 27 61 15.7

5 Upto intermediate 8 3 11 2.8

6 Degree 1 1 2 0.5

7 PG 1 0 1 0.3

8 Professional courses 1 2 3 0.8

9 Total population of the community 192 197 389 100.0

As can be inferred from the above table the illiterates constitute as

high as 71% and 15.7% upto secondary level, 2.8% intermediate level, 0.5%,

0.3% and 0.8% with Degree, PG and Professional courses respectively. Thus

- 93 -

the community is indeed reeling under educational backwardness and

naturally cannot avail the fruits of programmes of government in the related

fields.

DROPOUTS AT PRIMARY SCHOOL STAGE :

S.N o. MALE FEMALE TOTAL REASONS

1 5 (17.9%)

9 (63.6%)

14 (25.9%)

a) Could not cope up with studies

b) To help family for augmentation of

income.

The female dropout rate is quite high with 63.6% due to the

community’s short sidedness on the utility of the education specially for

female children.

DROPOUTS AT SECONDARY SCHOOL STAGE :

S. No. MALE FEMALE TOTAL REASONS

1 18 (90%)

7 (87.5%)

25 (89%)

a) Could not cope up with studies

b) To help family for augmentation of

income.

The dropouts at the secondary school stage are very high with 90% in

boys’ category and 87.5% in girls’ category and the total put together is 89%.

The phenomenon shows there is no growth after secondary school stage.

This means the children prosecuting higher education has come to an end

with secondary school stage itself. The community thus is without doubt very

backward in the educational aspect.

WORKERS AND NON WORKERS BY SEX:

Workers Non workers


130 113 243 44 68 112

74.7% 62.4% 68.5% 25.3% 37.6% 31.5%

- 94 -

The work participation rate of the community among males is 74.7%

while that of females is 62.4% and the total is 68.5% as against the state

work participation rates of 56.2%, 35.1% and 45.8% respectively.

Comparatively the work participation rates of the community is very high

which indicates that the whole community irrespective of age group are

participating in labour oriented works for a living.

ECONOMIC CLASSIFCATION OF WORKERS:

S. No. Type of manpower No. of workers

% to total work force

% to population #

1 Agricultural

labours 160 65.8 54.2

2 Non agricultural

labours 31 12.8 10.5

3 Own agriculturists 43 17.7 14.6

4 Own

entrepreneurs 6 2.5 2.0

5 State govt.

employees 2 0.8 0.7

6 Central

government employees

0 0.0 0.0

7 Employees in

private organization 1 0.4 0.3

TOTAL 243 100.0 82.4

# N.B. Population excludes 0 to 14 years of age (94 children) From the above table it can be observed that majority of the workers

engaged as agricultural and non agricultural labours with 64.7% of the total

population or 78.6% over working population followed by own agriculturists

with 14.6% over total population are 17.7% worker population. Own

account entrepreneurs constitute only 2.5% over work force due to the

reason that they do not have the knack of doing business with some

intelligence. State government employees in the community constitute a

dismal 0.8% to the work force are 0.7% over population. This phenomenon

does shows that they do not posses needed qualification to fit in the slots of

- 95 -

government employment. Employees in private organization are also as low

0.4% over workers are over 0.3% over population. Thus it can be inferred

that baring own agriculturist the rest of the category are virtually in labour

force.

HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND PER CAPITA INCOME OF THE COMMUNITY

(in Rs.)

S.No. DESCRIPTION RURAL URBAN TOTAL

1 Total monthly income of the workers of the households surveyed

182960 45200 228160

2 Per capita income of workers 792 3767 939

3 Per capita income of the community

503 1808 587

4 Total households monthly expenditure

180680 41250 221930

5 Per capita household monthly expenditure

1721 5893 1982

6 Per capita monthly expenditure 496 1650 571

The per capita income of the households for rural is Rs.792 while that

of urban households is Rs.3,767. The total put together is Rs.939. The per

capita income of the community is very low in rural areas with Rs. 503 while

that of in urban areas is 1808 and the total is Rs.587. The per capita

household expenditure for rural areas is Rs. 1721 while for urban areas is Rs.

5,893 and rural urban put together is Rs.1982. The per capita expenditure

estimated comes to Rs. 496 for rural areas, Rs. 1650 for urban areas and

rural and urban put together is Rs. 571. In this connection, it may be

mentioned that the National Sample Survey Organization, Government of

India has brought out a publication for its 61st rounds survey viz. ‘Household

consumer expenditure among socio economic groups 2004-05’ wherein it was

indicated that the average MPCE (Monthly Per Capita Expenditure) for rural

- 96 -

areas for all categories in Andhra Pradesh is Rs.585.55 as against the present

communities per capita expenditure of Rs.496, which is 15% less than the

state average. This phenomenon does show that the community is eking out

just hand to mouth livelihood.

EXPENDITURE PATTERN OF MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE

(RURAL) (in Rs.)

Income total

Food Fuel Rent

Clothing

Education

Medical

Toilet articles

Transport

Entertainment

Others

Total Exp.

Savings

183560 10674

0 8130 400 13375 5865 14620 8355

7385

1560 14250 18068

0 2830

% share

58.1 4.4 0.2 7.3 3.2 8.0 4.6 4.0 0.8 7.8 98.4 1.5

EXPENDITURE PATTERN OF MONTHLY HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE

(URBAN)

(in Rs.)

Income total

Food Fuel Rent

Clothing

Education

Medical

Toilet articles

Transport

Entertainment

Others

Total Exp.

Savings

45200 15700 2700

7700

1600 7170 500 900 2610

1150 1220 41250 3950

% share

34.7 6.0 17.0 3.5 15.9 1.1 2.0 5.8 2.5 2.7 91.3 8.7

In rural areas the expenditure on food items constitute 58.1%, for fuel

4.3%, for clothing 7.3%, on education 3.2%, on medical expenditure 7.96%,

toilet articles 4.6%, transport 4% and on entertainment as low 0.8%. There

is a saving of 1.5% on the income as recorded in the survey. The

expenditure on medicines is on the higher side given the income limit of the

rural community. In the urban sector the expenditure on food constitute

34.7% followed by rent with 17.0%, on education 15.9% and on transport

5.8%. There is a saving of 8.7% over income as recorded in the urban

sector.

- 97 -

HOUSEHOLD PROPERTY AND INDEBTEDNESS

(in Rs.)

IMMOVABLE PROPERTY VALUE IN Rs.

MOVABLE PROPERTY VALUE IN Rs.

IRRG - Land

Un Irrigated Land

House House site

Cattle/

Sheap, etc.

Agri. implements

Two Wheelers etc.

TV, VCR, etc.

Electrical

appliances

Furniture

Tools

Bank Balance/ Money on hand

TOTAL

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1404000

553000

2611500

401000

253160

112790

111700

58500

38500 107650

0 17500 566930

0

Contd…

INDEBTEDNESS

Outstanding

STATUS OF HOUSEHOLD NET VALUE

14 15

3815200 1854100

Contd… (in Rs.)

AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD ASSET VALUE 50619

PER CAPITA VALUE OF HOUSEHOLD ASSETS 14574

TOTAL No. OF HOUSEHOLDS BORROWED DEBTS

62

% OF HOUSEHOLDS BORROWED DEBTS 58.9%

AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD DEBTS 34064

PER CAPITA DEBTS OF THE COMMUNITY 9808

STATUS OF PER CAPITA HOUSEHOLD NET VALUE

16554

STATUS OF PER CAPITA NET VALUE OF THE COMMUNITY

4766

- 98 -

In order to assess the per capita household asset value, per capita

household debts, per capita debts of the community, necessary statistics has

collected and the results are as stated below.

The average household assets value is estimated at Rs. 50,619 and the

per capita household assets value is Rs. 14,574. As much as 58.9%

households have borrowed loans from a single source i.e., “money lenders”,

for the community has no alternative source to get the loans for their varied

purposes. The average household debts is estimated at Rs.34,064 while the

per capita debts is estimated at Rs.9,808. Thus the community is under the

grip of indebtedness with no hope of repayment unless their economic

condition changes with miracles. The per capita household net value is

estimated at Rs.16,554 while the per capita net value of the community is

estimated as low as Rs.4,766. This means, on an average, a person is having

a net value of assets like house, house site, household articles, agricultural

land, two wheelers, furniture etc., all put together Rs.4,766 only.

PURPOSE FOR WHICH LOANS RAISED

S.No. Description %

1 For medical expenses 40.3%

2 For household consumption 12.9%

3 For repayment of outstanding debts and interest

payments 25.8%

4 For agricultural inputs 21.0%

TOTAL : 100.0%

As has been explained in the preceding table, as much as 58.9%

households have borrowed loans from money lenders for various purposes. It

is interesting to note that over 40% loans were raised for medical expenses

followed by 25.8% towards repayment of outstanding loans and interest

payments, 21% for purchase of agricultural inputs and 13% for household

- 99 -

consumption purpose. As the hamlets are quite away from the Mandal head

quarters / district head quarters, the availment of medical facilities provided

by the government is not within the reach of the community in particular.

The survey team has also observed that over 90% of the villages do not have

a qualified medical practitioner other than quacks who are fleecing the poor

under the guise of mediocre medical attention.

SUMMERY FINDINGS OF THE SURVEY Social aspect:-

a) About 95% households have reported that, they feel inferior by their

caste.

b) About 95% households have stated that, they are looked down by the

society around them.

c) About 33% households have stated that, they are living in

discriminated localities.

d) Over 85% households have stated that, they used to get pleasure by

intoxication (toddy/gudumba/ country arrack) in household / religious

functions/ occasions.

e) Over 71% have reported that, their community is discriminated in the

local functions and festivals by advanced community people.

f) Practice of widow remarriages are in vogue in the community.

g) Practices of child marriages are very common in the community.

h) Almost all households have reported that, they feel shame to be

identified with their community name.

i) Over 96% of the households have reported that, they do not report to

Govt. in case of atrocities committed on them by advanced caste

people for fear of persecution.

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Educational aspect:-

a) Illiteracy among community people is recorded as 71% as against the

State illiteracy rate of 40%.

b) The community people studied upto secondary education level is only

15.7%.

c) The community people studied upto intermediate level is only 2.8%.

d) Dropouts in primary education are recorded at 25.9%, out of which the

female dropout rate is as high as 64%.

e) The dropout rate at secondary education level is very high at 89%.

This mean the community is not progressive beyond secondary level of

education among their children.

Economic aspect:-

a) The work participation rate of the community is recorded as 74.7%

among male, 62.4% female, male and female put together is at 68%

as against the state work participation rates of 56.2%, 35.1% and

45.8% of that order.

b) The agricultural labourers and non agricultural labourers together

accounted for 79%. This mean a large chunk of work force are

labourers.

c) The community share of employment in Govt. sectors among its

workers is as low as 0.8%.

d) The community share of employment in Private sector is again as low

as 0.4%.

e) The per capita income of the community for rural areas is Rs. 503/- for

urban areas is Rs. 1808/- and for both rural and urban areas is Rs.

587/-.

f) The per capita expenditure of the community for rural areas is Rs.496/-

for urban areas is Rs.1650/- and for both rural and urban areas is

Rs.571/-.

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g) The per capita rural indebtedness of community is recorded at

Rs.9,808/- and per household indebtedness is recorded at Rs.16,554/-.

h) The per capita availability lands both under irrigated / un-irrigated

categories are as low as 0.2 acres not withstanding agriculture as the

main source of living for the community.

Political aspect:-

a) The survey team did not come across not even Surpanch among the

households survey let alone other political hierarchy like MPTCs/ ZPTCs

etc.,

As has been explained above in detail, there is no doubt that the

LAKKAMARI KAPU community of Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam

districts are socially, educationally, economically and politically far backward

in all respects. By and large they are no better than most other listed

Backward Classes.

Thus, the LAKKAMARI KAPU community who are mainly found in

Karimnagar, Warangal and Kammam districts is fit to be given the status of

Backward Class and the area of operation may be restricted to Telangana

region for the community may in future spread over to Telangana region of

Andhra Pradesh as the LAKKAMARI KAPU community are in certain areas

having marriage alliances with Munnurukapu community (Who are already in

the list of BCs , at Sl No-20 of group “D” ) of Telangana who are in turn seen

in every District of Telangana region.

The Commission after taking into consideration of the oral and written

representations submitted by the caste people, socio educational and

economic report together with the statistical data submitted by the survey

team, anthropological reports etc., the Commission came to the conclusion

that Lakkamari Kapu caste / community is socially and educationally

backward, entitled to the benefits envisage under articles 15 (4) and 16 (4) of

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the Constitution of India and fit to be included in the list of Backward Classes

under Group – D at Sl. No.45 and the area of operation shall be confined to

Telangana region.

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V - RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMISSION

The commission considered the entire material available i.e., oral and

written representations submitted by the representatives, survey results

obtained by the survey team, the authorities relied by the commission, the

guidelines contemplated to identify the backward classes in the Mandal case

and other important decisions of the Apex court. The Commission after due

deliberations and detailed consideration unanimously resolved to tender

advice and recommend to the Government the following castes /

communities which are socially and educationally backward for purpose of

Articles 15 (4) & 16 (4) of the Constitution of India and fit to be included in

the list of backward classes as shown against each.

Sl. No. Name of the caste Group & No.

1 ATIRASA (confined to East and West Godavari

Districts)

D – 41

2 BUKKA AYYAVARS A – 47

3 GOTRALA (confined to Telangana region) A – 48

4 KASIKAPADI / KASIKAPUDI (confined to

Telangana region)

A – 49

5 SIDDULA (confined to Telangana region) A – 50

6 SIKLIGAR / SAIKALGAR A – 51

7 SONDI / SUNDI D – 42

8 VARALA (confined to Telangana region) D – 43

9 SISTAKARANAM D – 44

10 LAKKAMARI KAPU (confined to Telangana region) D – 45

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The principles of exclusion of socially advanced persons / sections

(creamy layer) already laid down by the state Govt. will automatically and

naturally apply to the above classes now recommended for inclusion.

1. Justice Dalava Subrahmanyam,

Chairman

2. Sri V. Krishna Mohan Rao,

Member

3. Sri Ch. Pandu Ranga,

Member

4. Sri Challakonda Raghuram Prasad,

Member

5. Sri E. Yellappa. I.A.S.,

Member Secretary

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1. ATIRASA caste / community is socially and educationally backward

for purpose of Articles 15 (4) & 16 (4) of the Constitution of India

and fit to be included in the list of backward classes under

Group – D at S. No. 41 and the area of operation shall be

confined to East and West Godavari Districts.

2. BUKKA AYYAVARS caste / Community is socially and

educationally backward for purpose of Articles 15 (4) & 16 (4) of

the Constitution of India and fit to be included in the list of

backward classes under Group – A at S. No. 47.

3. GOTRALA caste / community is socially and educationally

backward for purpose of Articles 15 (4) & 16 (4) of the Constitution

of India and fit to be included in the list of backward classes under

Group – A at S. No. 48 and the area of operation shall be

confined to Telangana region.

4. KASIKAPADI / KASIKAPUDI caste / community is socially and


the Constitution of India and fit to be included in the list of

backward classes under Group – A at S. No. 49 and the area of

operation shall be confined to Telangana region.

5. SIDDULA caste / Community is socially and educationally


of India and is fit to be included in the list of backward classes

under Group – A at S. No. 50 and the area of operation shall be

confined to Telangana region.

6. SIKLIGAR / SAIKALGAR caste / Community is socially and


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the Constitution of India and is fit to be included in the list of

backward classes under Group – A at S. No. 51.

7. SONDI / SUNDI caste / Community is socially and educationally



under Group – D at S. No. 42.

8. VARALA caste / Community is socially and educationally backward

for purpose of Articles 15 (4) & 16 (4) of the Constitution of India

and is fit to be included in the list of backward classes under Group

– D at S. No. 43 and the area of operation shall be confined to

Telangana region only.

9. SISTAKARANAM caste / Community is socially and educationally



under Group – D at S. No. 44.

10. LAKKAMARI KAPU caste / Community is socially and


the Constitution of India and is fit to be included in the list of

backward classes under Group – D at S. No. 45 and the area of

operation shall be confined to Telangana region only.

11. The principles of exclusion of socially advanced persons / sections

(creamy layer) already laid down by the state Govt. will

automatically and naturally apply to the above classes now

recommended for inclusion.

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6. Justice Dalava Subrahmanyam, Chairman

7. Sri V. Krishna Mohan Rao, Member

8. Sri Ch. Pandu Ranga, Member

9. Sri Challakonda Raghuram Prasad, Member

10. Sri E. Yellappa. I.A.S., Member Secretary

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