PANJIM: United Tribal Associations Alliance (UTAA) on Tuesday demanded that the pending bill seeking political reservation to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community in the Goa Assembly be passed in the Parliament.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had on August 5, 2024, introduced the bill in the Lok Sabha to provide reservation to Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Addressing a press conference, Prakash S Velip, President, United Tribals Associations Alliance (UTAA) said,” The bill was introduced in August and came for discussion in November but it could not be passed. The parliament session has started again so our demand is that the bill which is pending be passed and the process for providing political reservation be started as soon as possible. Our demand is that now when the budget session of the parliament is in progress, the bill be passed.”
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Velip recalled that when a delegation from the state had gone to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, it was assured that a bill will be introduced and political reservation will be provided in the state assembly. He expressed hope that at least four seats will be reserved in the State Assembly for the people belonging to Scheduled Tribe in the state before State Assembly elections which are likely to be held in 2027.
Velip said that there may be various organizations having different opinions but the target of all of them is to get political reservation in the state assembly. Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had introduced the Bill — Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024 last year. It was meant to empower the census commissioner to “ascertain or estimate” the population of STs in Goa and subsequently notify them. Further, it will also enable the Election Commission (EC) to readjust the seats in the Goa Assembly and reserve seats for STs accordingly. The proposal to bring the Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet in March last year.
