MARGAO: A delegation of ‘Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Goa’ (MPRSTG) met Union Minister for Law and Justice, Arjun Meghawal along with Union Minister of State (MoS) for Tourism Shripad Naik in New Delhi where they submitted a memorandum asking the Central government to consider the proposal submitted by the State government regarding reservation of seats for STs of Goa in Goa Assembly.
The delegation requested the Union Law Minister to constitute the Delimitation Commission for the purpose of delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in the State of Goa as per Section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002 by introducing bill in current parliamentary session or in forthcoming budgetary session or by bringing ordinance before 20
24 Lok Sabha elections.
MoS and North Goa MP Shripad Naik stressed that this is a long pending issue of ST’s of Goa and needs to be resolved at the earliest to give them their constitutional rights enshrined to the STs under the Constitution of India.
Minister Meghawal assured that he will look into the matter and will try to resolve this issue at the earliest and that he would also bring this on the record before Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give justice to the STs of Goa
Rupesh Velip (Secretary), Govind Shirodkar (Spokesperson) and Ravindra Velip (Attorney) & Joycee Dias were the part of the delegation
They also briefed the Union Law Minister about how the 30-member-strong Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Caste (SC) & Scheduled Tribes (ST) headed by MP Dr Kirit Premjibhai Solanki had visited Goa in January 2023 and all the developments thereafter that led to the proposal being sent by the State government to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on May 24, 2023 and was received by his office on June 19. Dr Solanki has also tabled his Goa study visit report in the parliament on 12th February 2023 in which he has specifically mentioned about reservation of seats for STs of Goa.
Ravindra Velip further informed him that Goa Assembly in its current session on June 21, had also unanimously passed a private members resolution moved by BJP ST MLA Ganesh Gaonkar, to recommend and urge the Central Government to reserve seats for STs of Goa in the Legislative Assembly.
MPRSTG Govind Shirodkar reiterated that the three communities namely Gawda, Kunbi and Velip were included in the list of STs of Goa in the year 2003. As per 2011 census, the population of ST people in Goa is 10.23 %. However even after 20 years, the STs of Goa are deprived of political reservation in the house of the people and legislative assembly of the State.
The delegates also referred to petitions in the Supreme Court and High Court as well as other decisions taken by the Central government in other States/ Union Territories and emphasised that demands for reservation are justified and their constitutional right.
