The Comunidades of Goa celebrate the 15th of April as the Day of Village Communities or Ganvkaris or Comunidades of Goa, which for centuries/millennia are unique Institutions of Goan identity, because on this day in 1961, the Code of Comunidades was promulgated by the Portuguese Government. Unfortunately, this year, the Comunidades are facing the ‘axe’ on their existence due to this Bill.
The Goa Agri-land Amendment Bill 2023 passed in the just concluded Assembly Session on 1st April 2023 (incidentally coinciding with Fool’s Day), to fool Goans is signing the ‘Death warrant of Goa and our Goemkarponn’ if it receives the assent of the Governor of Goa.
Goemkarponn is essentially linked to the land of Goa. This land over which most of our ignorant legislators are legislating was not given to Goans by any State Ruler.
It is a multi-millennial ownership coming from the original owners. This land is allodial to the Comunidades, which cannot be separated from them. Every Ruler who ruled Goa down the millennia from the Ashoka Empire (III century before CE) to the Bojas, Silaharas, Kadambas, Muslims, Portuguese, etc till 1961 have accepted the fact that the land in Goa is not owned by the Ruler but by the Ganvkaris or Village Communities. Therefore, it is Community Land for the use of Village Communities of Goa.
The Government has to consider the fact that Goa is the smallest State in the Union of India and therefore every inch of land is precious to Goans. The Governor of Goa, being a very erudite personality and a lawyer, who knows the situation Goans are facing, had rightly advised the Government on Statehood Day function last May that, ‘a study should be conducted on the communal harmony and the system of jurisprudence that existed in Goa before 1961 and later’, but all that has fallen on deaf ears.
The Government might ostensibly have brought the Bill to protect the land, but there are other Acts which nullify this legislation. So unless a thorough study of all land legislations is done in all earnest to protect Goa’s land, this Bill is a flawed Bill which intends to finish Goa and Goemkarponn.
The land laws of any State have a certain permanency. They are not easily changed at the whims and fancies of the ministers, as it happens in Goa. I am told by a High Court Lawyer from Maharashtra that their Land Tax is fixed in ‘naya paises’ for years and it has not changed so far.
On 15th April 2013 the late Mr. Manohar Parrikar, the then Chief Minister of Goa is on record in the Goa Assembly that out of the area of 3702 sq kilometers which comprise the State of Goa, only 362 sq. kilometers are left for future development. From 2013 to 2023, in a period of 10 years, can the Government tell Goans how much land is still available for housing, for a population of 16 lakhs as per the 2011 census, (let alone other development); taking into account the land acquired for National Highways, State Highways, the three linear projects, the International Law College, Goa International Centre, IT, etc. Without this study, the Government should not go ahead with this Bill.
It is very important to keep land for our future generations of Goans. The concept of intergenerational equity, rightly propounded in the mining case in the Supreme Court is applicable here as well, as far as housing needs of Goans is concerned.
When I mean Goans, not only Goans who are in Goa, but also the thousands who have gone to the Gulf countries for jobs and of late to the UK and other parts of the world, are to be taken into account. If in future due to some adverse circumstances and even ever escalating inflation, they are forced to come back to Goa, they will need land for housing which the Government may not be able to provide since most of Goa’s land is sold out. Therefore, all those concerned with Goa and Goans, should think that every inch of Goa’s land should get maximum protection from all, especially agricultural land, since man needs food which comes from agriculture (paddy fields and other lands).
Now, coming to the point of Amendments – The Amendments so far done are to the Legislative Diploma 2070. One cannot amend a Diploma by which the Code was approved and promulgated. They are amendments to the Code of Comunidades – not the original Code in Portuguese but to a faulty translation of the same. The official translation of the Code is faulty. I have pointed out these serious flaws in the translation to the earlier Commission of Comunidades in writing, twice, first on 4th March 2015 and the second on 11th March 2015. Later on, I have discovered many more flaws. The Commission was appointed by the Government through the High Court order, in the writ petition No. 406/2009. The Commission promised me to correct the mistakes, but nothing has been done so far.
Hence is the Government amending the Code of Comunidades, knowing very well that the Gazetted translation is faulty? Or should the people go to Court everytime things go wrong, to righten the wrongs done by the Government? Do people have the money for this? ‘Poixe na zalear mor’ – is this attitude the Government is following?
There is a history behind the Code of Comunidades. The Code was not prepared or formulated by the Legislative Council of the then Portuguese Government but by the appointment of a Commission of Communidades in 1958 to prepare the same. The Commission had worked for two years on the preparation of the Code and after its formulation, a Convention of all the Comunidades was held in the capital City of Goa to finalize it. The then Governor of Goa, after hearing the Legislative Council, approved and promulgated the same. The Legislative Diploma 2070 by which the Code of Comunidades was promulgated in its No. II, says that any modifications to the said Code should be done very carefully because they can have far reaching consequences on the interests of the collectivity, as far as ‘peace or tranquillity of existence’ is concerned.
The Code itself lays down in its Article 652 that every 5 years the Government (who according to No. 5 of the said Code has the role of providing administrative tutelage to the Comunidades) has to convene a meeting or Convention of all the delegates of all the Comunidades of Goa and they should be the ones who prepare and suggest to the Government any modifications after a Convention of Comunidades, for the progress of the Comunidades. This Article 652 lays at rest the various opinions regarding the role of Legislature in the matter of modifications, alterations (amendments) to the Code of Comunidades.
I hope this article will enlighten those who have the God given responsibility to protect the Goan identity which is essentially linked to its land.
(The author is a well–known columnist and author of the book ‘Goan
Village Communities’)
