Tue May 06 10:17:43 UTC 2025: ## Puducherry CPI(M) Demands Action on Migrant SC Reservation Issue

**Puducherry, May 6, 2025** – The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) has urged Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to address the long-standing issue of reservation benefits for migrant Scheduled Caste (SC) populations in the Union Territory. In a letter to the Chief Minister, CPI(M) secretary S. Ramachandran highlighted that while SCs constitute 16% of Puducherry’s population (60% indigenous, 40% migrant), only indigenous SCs receive reservation benefits for employment and education.

The CPI(M) argues that despite a 2014 Supreme Court ruling quashing a government notification limiting benefits to indigenous SCs, the Puducherry administration continues to discriminate against migrant SC communities. Currently, only those who obtain individual court reprieves receive these benefits.

Ramachandran’s letter proposes that the government adopt the year 2001 as the cut-off for residential certificates, mirroring the policy for Other Backward Castes and Most Backward Classes. This would allow migrant SCs access to reservation benefits in jobs, promotions, and education. The letter also calls for the granting of Native Scheduled Caste Certificates to native matrilineal descendants without gender discrimination and an end to the discrimination between indigenous and migrant Dalit populations. The CPI(M) emphasizes the significant historical contributions of migrant Dalits to Puducherry’s social and cultural development.

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