Backwardness index in Telangana uses caste survey data.

• The Telangana government is assessing the backwardness of castes on a scale of “zero to 126”, regardless of their population size.
• An 11-member Expert Working Group, led by Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy, has developed a composite backwardness index to quantify the backwardness of castes.
• The survey data is compiled from over 3.5 crore residents of Telangana who responded to 74 questions covering aspects such as education, income, housing, landholding, and experiences of discrimination.
• The index is a first-of-its-kind metric designed to objectively evaluate social and economic disparities.
• The committee performed statistical significance tests across the responses, shortlisting 42 indicators across nine categories.
• Each caste was ranked on a scale from 0 to 126 points, with higher scores indicating greater backwardness.
• The data was analyzed through quartile distribution, placing every caste into one of four buckets based on their aggregate scores.