Public recruitment in Karnataka — stalled for over a year on account of reservation issues — is scheduled to start with a new quota matrix. The Karnataka government, amid pressure from job aspirants, announced the kickstarting of the recruitment process to fill up 56,432 posts. This will be one of the largest recruitments drives by the State in recent years.

However, the new matrix has not been without resentment; it has altered the overall quantum of reservation, and has also changed the internal reservation quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

Faced with a slew of cases in the Karnataka High Court on the reservation issue, the State government has attempted to overcome the legal challenge through executive decisions. Among the key decisions is the reversal of the quantum of reservation that had been enhanced to 17% for SCs and 7% for STs through the Karnataka Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 2022. The enhanced quota had breached the 50% cap on reservations fixed by the Supreme Court, and cases were filed against it in the High Court. The government has now reversed the quota to 15% from 17% and 3% from 7% to SCs and STs respectively, bringing the overall quota back to the earlier 50%. The OBCs have 32% reservation quota in the State.

The reduction in ST reservation in particular has disappointed the youth among the community seeking public employment, as their opportunities will now shrink. In Karnataka, the ST list has 51 tribes of which the Nayakas remain the dominant community. Their inclusion in the list during the 1990s contributed significantly to the increase in the ST population of the State. The 2022 legislation had provided for 7% reservation, proportionate to their population, but it is now back to 3%.

Suspect silence

Curiously, leaders from the community in both the ruling Congress and the Opposition BJP have not said much in public on this issue. A proposed protest rally from Chitradurga to Bengaluru by the BJP to condemn the reduction did not take off, apparently due to pressure from their high command. Though the BJP government legislated enhanced reservations in 2022, legal experts believe that it has to be brought under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to get legal protection, a task that is being seen as difficult for the National Democratic Alliance-ruled Centre. States like Tamil Nadu have been able to breach the limit by bringing their reservation matrix under the Ninth Schedule.

Within the Congress, a few Nayaka leaders believe that the party is not doing enough to protect ST interests, and also not attempting to score political points against the BJP by asserting pressure on the Centre. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah — in his list of 18 demands to Prime Minister Modi — sought the inclusion of enhanced reservation under the Ninth Schedule. But many within the party feel that this was not enough.

On the issue of sub classification among the 101 SCs, the State has come up with a new matrix — the fifth such model proposed in one and a half decades, which includes the three proposed just in the last one year. The reduction in the overall reservation to SCs to 15% has not seen much resentment. The Dalit Madiga leaders, who succeeded in stalling the recruitment process till the sub-classification was announced, have not spoken much against the reduction in the overall quantum of reservation.

The new matrix has been arrived at within the 15% cap despite the Karnataka Scheduled Castes (Sub classification) Act, 2025, receiving the Governor’s assent (yet to be notified) for internal reservation within the 17% quota.

However, 49 nomadic tribes and 10 microscopic communities, which come under the SC category, have threatened to approach the court again against the new sub classification, seeking a separate category. Though the H.N. Nagmohan Das Commission recommended a separate category for these 59 castes last year, the State government included them in Category 3 along with relatively better-off communities such as the Banjara, Korama, Koracha and Bhovi. The tangled issue of the reservation matrix in Karnataka shows no signs of getting sorted soon.