Staff Reporter
Panaji
Following constant demand from the Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Goa and 15 tribal organisations, the Goa government has finally sent a proposal to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice requesting it to constitute the Delimitation Commission under provision of Article 330 and 332 of the Constitution of India read with Section 3 of Delimitation Act, 2002 in order to determine and identify the legislative assembly constituencies to be marked and reserved for ST communities in the state of Goa.
Expressing gratitude to the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds tribal welfare portfolio, the Mission Political Reservation for STs, an umbrella organisation, reiterated its demand that the notification reserving seats for ST communities in Goa legislative assembly be issued before Lok Sabha polls to be held in 2024.
In a letter sent to the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, the director of tribal welfare Dashrath Redkar stated that as per the census of 2011 out of 40 assembly constituencies, as per population census, four constituencies need to be reserved for ST communities and one for SC community.
“As per census of 2011, the population of scheduled tribes is 10.23 percent and scheduled caste is 1.74 percent in the state of Goa. The state assembly legislation in Goa comprises 40 constituencies out of which only one (Pernem) assembly constituency is reserved for SC community and there is no reservation for ST communities,” he said.
Addressing the media on Monday, the president of Mission Political Reservation Joao Fernandes thanked the Chief Minister for finally clearing the proposal, which was pending before him for the last
3 months.
He also thanked all 15 tribal organisations, media and the members of the community who had attended a massive public meeting on May 25, 2023 at Lohia Maidan for pressing demands of the community.
The General Secretary of the organisation Rupesh Velip thanked Dr. Kirit Solanki, chairman of Parliamentary Committee for the welfare of SC/ST, who during his visit to Goa along with other 29 members from January 11 to 13, 2023, pressed the issue before the state authorities based on the request made by the executive committee of
the Mission.
He informed that Dr. Solanki had tabled the report in this regard in the Lok Sabha on February 12, 2023.
The advisor of the organisation Govind Shirodkar said that now the ball is in the court of the
central government.
“We request the Chief Minister and the state government to take up one step further and get the notification issued prior to the declaration of the Lok Sabha elections 2024,” he said.
It may be recalled that the Mission Political Reservation had threatened to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha polls by the ST communities if the notification reserving seats for STs in Goa legislative assembly is not issued before the Lok Sabha polls.
The Scheduled Tribes status to the Gawada, Kunbi and Velio communities of Goa was given in 2003. However, the government and the Election Commission of India have failed to implement political reservation for ST communities in Goa.