Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Wednesday said that Punjab has started its first ever drugs and caste-based census and teams from different government departments have fanned out across the state to do a head count of drug abusers.

The census will be completed within three months and Census- 2027 will also start from May 15 in the state.

Mann, while addressing the media, said that the caste survey will cover urban areas and all 13,236 gram panchayats. The exercise aims to map land ownership, income levels, and social indicators across caste groups. Significantly, it will also collect data on drug use within households, including the type of substances consumed.

The CM said the survey would help the government “get a clearer picture” of socio-economic realities in villages. The initiative comes amid increasing political focus nationwide on caste-based data to guide welfare policies and resource allocation.

Punjab has long grappled with two overlapping structural challenges — agrarian inequality and drug abuse. While agriculture remains the backbone of the rural economy, disparities in land ownership across caste groups have persisted. “The state has been facing a serious drug problem over the past decade, particularly among rural youth, prompting successive governments to promise crackdowns and rehabilitation efforts. The data thus collected will put the things in a perspective,” said an official of the government.

Unlike other states, Punjab has not conducted a recent comprehensive caste-based socio-economic survey. The current exercise is expected to fill that gap, potentially influencing future welfare targeting, reservation debates, and anti-drug interventions, said the official. He added, “The socio-economic Census holds importance as the government would like to find out about the drug abuse, kind of substances used by abusers from various castes. Their economical status would also be checked. This will help give it a perspective and handle the menace effectively.”

The census is being looked at keenly as Punjab has the highest percentage of Scheduled Castes (SCs) in India, comprising roughly 32 per cent of the state’s population according to recent estimates.

Th survery will also help in finding the concentration of Jat Sikhs , approximately 20-30 per cent of the population, and a significant proportion of landless or poor populations among Scheduled Castes.

With assembly elections a few months away, the count is being looked at intently as it would also help the ruling AAP compile the data of target voters. The caste census is a contentious issue, aiming to address disparities in urban and rural areas. Previous attempts, such as the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), did not have their findings fully released, leading to demands for new data, said an official.

The state is also working on finding the exact number of drug addicts. As many as 28,000 employees of the government would be compiling the data of 65 lakh families in the state. “We will have it ready before the Centre gives its report,” a minister said.