Chennai, June 11: The CPM today demanded that reservation for Tamil Nadu’s Scheduled Castes and Tribes be raised from 19 to 20 per cent to match an increase in the groups’ combined population, reports our special correspondent.

The party cited the 2001 census report that said the state’s SC-ST population had crossed 20 per cent. It suggested that quota for the SCs should go up from 18 to 19 per cent while that for the STs could stay at 1 per cent.

The state’s overall 69 per cent reservation in education and government jobs faces a challenge in the Supreme Court that capped quota in the country at 50 per cent. A 20 per cent SC-ST quota would raise the volume to 70 per cent .