New Delhi, April 30 -- AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has welcomed the Centre's decision to include caste data in the upcoming national census, calling it a long-overdue move to ensure equitable policy-making.

In a post on X, Owaisi lauded Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for leading India's first-ever caste census in an Independent state, which revealed that 56.32 per cent of the population belongs to Backward Castes.

"The Centre has agreed to include caste data in the upcoming census exercise. This was needed urgently and it was a long-pending demand of many groups. I'd also made the same demand since 2021. I congratulate and thank Telangana CM Revanth Reddy for his leadership in implementing the historic Caste Census in Telangana...