TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: The association Scheduled Tribes of Goa, at a public meeting, demanded political reservation, which is due to them as per the law, failing which, they have threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
They will also commence a non-cooperative movement, where Goans of Scheduled Tribes will resign from their positions, boycott the courts, government service and refuse to pay taxes.
The group pointed out that as per the Constitution, they should have got political reservation by now.
“In the year 2003, three communities namely Gawda, Kunbi and Velip were added in the list of Scheduled Tribes of Goa. However, even after 19 years, we are kept deprived of political reservation in the house of the people and Legislative Assembly of the State,” said Joao Fernandes on behalf of the association.
They further referred to directions of preparing a fresh census to replace the old outdated one that were issued by the Central government, which were not followed in Goa.
They attributed these delays to the lack of political will, failure to constitute a delimitation commission in Goa and the wrong interpretation of the law by the political leaders and government.
They also accused the Election Commission of India for failing to carry out its constitutional obligations to ensure proportional representations of Scheduled Tribes that reflect the ground reality in Goa.
"Furthermore, the Supreme Court in Writ Petition no 230 of 2007 filed by the Goa State Scheduled Tribes Action Committee through its convenor, Antonio Gaunkar, had given directions to the Election Commission to consider and decide on the representation dated August 1, 2006 made by the petitioner within 8 months time. But till date nothing has been done,” Joao added.
