The anti-reservation agitation of 1985 was triggered by:

The correct answer is: Increase in reservation quotas.

The anti-reservation agitation of 1985 was a series of protests and riots that took place in India in response to the government’s decision to increase the number of seats reserved for students from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in higher education institutions. The protests were led by upper-caste students, who felt that the increase in reservation quotas would unfairly disadvantage them. The agitation led to violence and destruction of property, and the government was forced to withdraw the decision to increase the reservation quotas.

The other options are incorrect because:

• Economic recession: The anti-reservation agitation of 1985 was not triggered by economic recession. The Indian economy was growing at a healthy rate at the time of the agitation.
• Caste-based discrimination: Caste-based discrimination is a long-standing problem in India, but it was not the trigger for the anti-reservation agitation of 1985. The agitation was specifically about the increase in reservation quotas, not about caste-based discrimination in general.
• Privatization policies: Privatization policies were not introduced in India until the early 1990s, after the anti-reservation agitation of 1985. Therefore, they could not have been the trigger for the agitation.