It is important to understand that the change in name is not merely a change in a certificate or a document, or that this name is then used from that moment on. A change in name results in an identity change for the person, giving the person access to past records of a person by the same name.
Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has raised a rather pertinent point, when he seeks an investigation of why migrants who have made Goa their home are adopting Goan names. The purchase of properties is acceptable, but the change of name is questionable, he feels. Across the State there are many others who feel the same, and question this as public notices of name changes keep appearing in the daily newspapers.
One reason Lourenco gives, and this raises concerns, is that a section of the people changing their names could be doing so to take over properties where in the Form I&XIV there are names which are similar to the new name selected by the person. But there could be other reasons too, as a person with a changed name can also obtain birth certificates and then go on to seek other State benefits, and in the case of Goa even Portuguese citizenship. This therefore, as the MLA contends, has to be taken seriously and investigated.
While usually a name change occurs after marriage, or in special circumstances, when the person may want to change a spelling, what is currently happening in Goa is far different. Migrants are changing not just the first name of surname, but all their names to Goan names and getting access to a host of services that they might have otherwise not been eligible for. Further, the name change can lead, as pointed out by the MLA to usurping land by making claims based on names that appear on property documents. Given that today property documents – or at least the Form I&XIV – are available online, the possibility of obtaining information regarding ownership of properties is facilitated to a great extent.
There was about three years ago the rather curious case of a non-Goan woman, who lived as a tenant in the house of an elderly couple in Benaulim, and legally made the elderly couple her parents and once this was done, obtained a birth certificate, driving licence, registered her marriage and applied for Portuguese citizenship. The elderly couple remained unaware of this and learnt of it only later, when they saw their names on the tenant’s marriage certificate. Complaints were then filed. This case illustrates just why the current practice on name change that is occurring in Goa should not and cannot be ignored.
Can the government act on this, taking up the issue and finding out why there is a trend among migrants to change their names to Goan names and surnames? The name changes in Goa do not fall under any of the more acceptable reason for changes, which makes it all the more curious as to the motive for doing so. If the intention is to usurp properties belonging to Goans who may have migrated abroad, or to indulge in any other kind of illegality, than government action has to be forthcoming, and should not be delayed.
