Goans are made to believe that farmers are tillers of the land like rice fields and orchard lands bearing fruits, but in reality the farmers are the owners of the land, who are also known as Bhatkars or were known as landlords in the past. Agricultural tenant in reality is a tiller, who cultivates the farmland owners land (rice fields) and Mundkars are those who were dwelling in orchard land and worked for the owners by planting, manuring, digging roots of coconut trees etc. and taking care of other fruit bearing trees. They never did the tilling of land, but only lived on orchard land and took care of the fruit bearing trees, which were planted by them, with the help of the farmers (owners of the land) and were paid by the owners in cash or kind and were also given a shelter on the land.
Some of these Mundkars are also claiming tenancy on fruit bearing trees, like coconut gardens while, leaving the rest of the Mundkars living on the same land only with Mundkarial laws.
In reality these fruit bearing trees should be termed under temporary contract terms and opportunity should be given to all Mundkars existing on the land to take the contract from the farm owner on yearly basis on their mutually agreed terms. This contract will not only benefit the farmers who are land owners, but also all the existing Mundkars of the same land who had worked for the farmer for planting trees etc.
The present government should change the present agricultural tenancy act applied on fruit bearing trees where Munkarial houses exist and grant contract farming system for fruit bearing trees on yearly basis to the existing Mundkars, whereby the farmers and the Mundkars will get some income on the orchard land like coconut trees and fruit bearing trees.
