Context:

The Panchamasalis from Karnataka are demanding inclusion in Category 2A of the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

More on the news

• Currently, Panchamasalis enjoy Category 3B of Karnataka’s OBC quota matrix.
• From the 5 percent quota Lingayats are entitled to under category 3B, Panchamasalis want to be included under category 2A, which will entitle them to a 15 percent reservation. 

Who are the Panchamasali Lingayats?

• The Lingayats officially classified as Hindu sub-caste ‘Veerashaiva Lingayats’ are followers of Basavanna, a 12th-century philosopher-saint.
  Basavanna started a radical anti-caste movement and rejected Brahmin rituals and temple worship and envisaged a society that was casteless, free of discrimination, and where men and women had equal opportunities.  
• The Panchamasalis (dominant agrarian caste) are the largest (nearly 70 percent) sub-caste of Karnataka’s dominant Lingayat community and around 14% of Karnataka’s population.

Different categories of OBCs in Karnataka

• To prevent any one dominant OBC group from cornering all quota benefits, Karnataka has come up with further sub-categorisation of OBCs.
• In Karnataka, the 32% reservation for OBCs in government jobs and college admissions is divided into five categories. 

Current status of reservation in lingayat's Quota

• Currently, only 16 Lingayat sub-castes (there are now 99 sub-sects within the Lingayats) who are considered “very backward” are provided reservations under the OBC quota for central government jobs and college administrations.
• In Mach 2023, the then government scrapped the 4 percent quota under Category 2B for Muslims and distributed it (2 percent each) among the Vokkaligas and Lingayats in newly-created Categories 2C and 2D. However, the Supreme Court repealed the above move of the government, stating it as flawed.