Bangalore: Karnataka government on Friday decided to include the Arasu community under backward classes 2A category giving its members "academic benefits" and reservation in recruitment.

Briefing reporters after a Cabinet meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar said the community`s population was about 40,000. They had actually been included under 2A in 1977 but subsequently had been dropped from the list by "various backward classes commissions".

In 2010, a committee headed by former Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, C S Dwarakanath, had recommended in a special report their inclusion in 2A category, Suresh Kumar noted. PTI