Team Herald
MARGAO: Based on population statistics of the State, the Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) has recommended that five of the 40 constituencies in Goa Assembly be reserved for STs and two for Scheduled Castes (SC).
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The State government has been asked to submit a proposal to this effect to the committee at the earliest.
This development took place during the three-day visit of the Committee to Goa, which arrived on Wednesday. On Thursday evening, the chairman of the committee, Dr Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, along with a 10-member delegation of MPs had attended a programme held at the Raia village panchayat hall on Thursday evening.
The other committee members were Girish Chandra, Guman Singh Amor, Anil Firojiya, Tapir Gao, Goddeti Madhavi, Pratima Mondal, Chhedi Paswan, Upendra Singh Rawat and Sandhya Ray.
Dr Solanki said that they were disappointed that the reservation had not taken place in Goa as per the constitutional requirements and population breakup of the State and that they would be sending their report to the Central government for further action.
He however noted that the welfare of tribal communities in Goa appear to be better as compared to other parts of India, but there is still a lot that can be done to improve their condition.
Dr Solanki, who also met various ST leaders, assured them that they had already issued the necessary directions to the authorities about political reservation for STs and that they had taken note of other issues like Scheduled Areas notification, Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) funds etc.
