After Telangana, it is now the turn of Andhra Pradesh to unanimously adopt a resolution in the assembly in favour of sub-classification of scheduled castes for the purpose of reservations.
This follows a landmark verdict by the Supreme Court verdict, on August 1 last year, allowing sub-categorisation of SCs for granting quotas inside the reserved category to uplift more underprivileged castes. The apex court also affirmed the rights of the states to enact necessary legislation in this regard.
Significantly, the categorisation demand has support from parties across the political spectrum in both the Telugu states.
The Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu moved a resolution in the House on Thursday which was adopted unanimously. Earlier, on Monday, the state cabinet had approved the recommendations of the one-member commission led by retired IAS officer Rajiv Ranjan Mishra on the sub-classification of SCs in the State.
Meanwhile, Telangana became the first state in the country to take the initiative in this regard when its assembly passed the historic Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Bill, 2025 on Tuesday.
Based on the recommendations of a judicial commission, headed by retired High Court judge Justice Shameem Akther, the Telangana government divided 59 sub-castes of the SCs into three groups and distributed 15 percent reservations among them in proportion to the percentage of their population.
Prolonged struggle
The combined Andhra Pradesh had witnessed a prolonged agitation by Dalit organisations and political parties since the 1990s in support of the SC categorisation to ensure equitable distribution of reservation benefits.
The curtains finally came down on the issue in August last year with the Supreme Court giving the go-ahead to the states.
Also read: Telangana Assembly approves SC sub-categorisation bill
Despite a broad political consensus, the categorisation issue has been hanging fire since 2004 when a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court struck down a legislation passed by the then combined Andhra Pradesh assembly, categorising the SCs into four groups— A, B, C and D—on the basis of their population and social backwardness.
The three-decade-old movement, spearheaded by the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS), has seen many ups and downs and has significantly influenced the political discourse in favour of equitable distribution of the reservation pie among various caste groups.
Those demanding the classification of SCs based on education, income and social status believe that it would help give a leg up to the socially and educationally backward Madiga community.
A commission set up in 1996, under the chairmanship of Justice P Ramachandra Raju, confirmed the yawning disparities in the utilisation of reservations among Dalit sub-groups, recommending categorisation of SCs based on their population for the purpose of reservations.
It suggested that Dalits in Andhra Pradesh be categorised into four groups on the basis of the level of backwardness and population. Later in 2007, the Justice Usha Mehra Commission, constituted by the Union government, also proposed categorisation among Dalits to ensure fair distribution of reservation benefits.
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