ASSEMBLY POLLS
PANAJI
The principal opposition party, the Congress, will take up the issues of 12% reservation for Scheduled Tribes (ST), the diminishing autonomy of Goa University as well as the amendments to the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act, in the run-up to the State Assembly elections in 2017, party spokesperson Ramakant Khalap said.
“The Goa government amended the Goa Agricultural Tenancy Act and made it mandatory that tenancy cases be heard by civil courts instead of revenue courts. While the government withdrew the other two amendments, this one has not been withdrawn,” Khalap said.
“This amendment is causing lot of hardships to the people since land is a big issue and Goans are becoming outsiders in their own land,” Khalap said.
He said that the party would organise a convention of tenants from around the State sometime during the summer to bring them together on the issue and take it forward if the government fails to resolve it.
Khalap also said that the government would take up the issue of reservation for the STs in the Assembly, saying that the demand is long pending and overdue.
“We would like to lend our support to the ST associations who have been demanding this for a long time now. The ST population in the State stands at 12% and should be granted reservations. We wish to give it a last push and force reservations for STs in the Assembly,” Khalap said.
Khalap also alleged that the Goa government in a ‘cruel, arbitrary and malafide’ fashion ended not just the grants to his college in Mandrem by providing false information but also pressurising the Goa University to withdraw his affiliation.
“The autonomy of the Goa University has been compromised. This is not restricted to Goa and is a pan-India problem where the onslaught on universities like that of JNU, AMU as well as Hyderabad Central University is taking place,” Khalap said.
“The University Academic Council has bent to the pressure of the BJP government,” he added.
Khalap also raised the issue of the precarious situation that is facing Goa’s co-operative banks on account of the shutdown in mining, saying that it is similar to that of the central banks which are facing huge losses due to non-performing assets. “The co-operative banks will have to be revitalised through the State budget on the lines of the Central-State owned banks,” Khalap said.
