Fighting for Backwardness Venkataswamy Commission Report and After Janaki Nair THE recent decision of Karnataka's Janata government to include both the Lingayat and the Vokkaliga communities in the list of Backward Classes eligible for reservations in educational institutions and government jobs, and to maintain the total level of reservations at 68 per cent brings the history of the State's reservation policy full circle. Quite unlike the virulent opposition to the proposed increase in such reservations in States such as Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka's recent agitation consisted entirely of the clamour of practically all castes, including the Brahmins, for the privilege of being included in the list of Backward Classes, This fight for privileges began in the first quarter of this century with the emergence of the non-Brahmin movement and was essentially a conflict between elites, a tone not entirely absent from even the recent agitation. Sixty-five years ago, a commission under the chairmanship of Sir Leslie Miller, the Chief Judge of Mysore, had recommended the reservation of 75 per cent of all government jobs for Backward Classes, which included both the Lingayats and Vokkaligas.
