PANJIM: A delegation of Rashtriya Adivasi Ekta Manch submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant demanding political reservation for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities in the State Legislative Assembly.
The delegation comprised former Minister Prakash Velip; National President of Rashtriya Adivasi Ekta Manch Yashwant Darbar, National Tribal Unity Manch Vice President Shivaji Ram Meena, national general secretary Khandelwal, journalist Rakesh Meena and Rajesh Jha of Salute Tiranga.
In the memorandum, the Rashtriya Adivasi Ekta Manch has pointed out that the tribals of Goa were not given political reservation for the last 20 years. In 2003, the Gawada, Kunbi and Velip communities were included in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and the ST communities population is around 10.47 percent of the total population of Goa. Despite of this, not a single seat is reserved for the STs in the Assembly.
The demand for reservation of seats for the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly has been made many times by the tribal society of the country and has appealed to the State government to resolve the long pending issue of political reservation and give justice to a Gawada, Kunbi and Velip communities.
As per the 2011 Census, the total population of ST communities is 10.23 percent of which 6.92 per cent is from North Goa district.
