Telangana govt issues order on SC categorisation

The Telangana government has officially implemented the Scheduled Caste (SC) Categorisation of Reservations Act 2025, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar on Monday. A government order (GO) has been issued, marking a significant policy decision aimed at addressing long-standing demands from marginalized communities. As per the government order, the 56 Scheduled Caste communities in Telangana have now been divided into three groups to ensure equitable distribution of benefits among the SC sub-groups. The GO has been issued following consent from the State governor for the Bill which was passed by the State Legislature last month.
Telangana government had earlier appointed a commission headed by retired High Court judge Justice Shameem Akther on SC categorisation, which made recommendations that the 59 Scheduled Caste (SC) communities be divided into three groups viz I, II, and III for the total reservations of 15 per cent in government jobs and education. Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Minister Uttam Reddy, who headed a sub-committee on SC Categorisation, said the first copy of the GO was given to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. "Telangana is the first state to implement the SC categorisation after the Supreme Court’s verdicts," Reddy said.
The minister alleged that earlier governments in Telangana confined themselves to pass resolutions for the categorisation and never took forward. He further said all job vacancies in the state government now will be filled according to the sub-categorisation for SCs. The Irrigation Minister further said the cabinet sub-committee did an extensive exercise in collecting the opinion of all the stakeholders.He also said if the SC population goes up in 2026 census, the reservations for it would go up accordingly.
This classification is expected to guide future policies on reservations in education, employment, and political representation. Our correspondent says, the implementation of SC categorisation is seen as a major milestone in Telangana State’s efforts to achieve social justice, especially for communities that have historically been left behind despite belonging to the larger SC category.