MARGAO
Blame it on lack of political will or otherwise, State’s Scheduled Tribes have once again missed the bus for political reservations the community is entitled to under the Constitution of India.
If the ST community had come in getting the political reservations in the run-up to the 2017 Assembly polls along with Uttar Pradesh, the community has been left high and dry in the last five years.
Political reservations for the ST community had been one of the 12-point demands espoused by the United Tribal Alliance Association (UTAA) since 2004.
Before that, former MLA Anton Gaunkar had espoused the cause of the ST community under the banner of the Goa State Schedule Tribes Action Committee, but in vain.
UTAA Chief, Prakash Velip says: “We tried all means to draw the attention of the State government as well as the Centre to fulfil the Constitutional mandate by reserving Assembly seats for the State’s ST population. Besides UTAA, former MLA Anton Gaunkar had knocked on the doors of the concerned authorities to get the political reservations for the tribal communities. Peter Gama had spent lakhs of rupees on the legal battle in support of the cause of political reservations. It is indeed unfortunate that the scheduled tribes have not been given the Constitutional benefit of reservations till date”.
Prakash pointed that UTAA delegations had called on the Congress as well as BJP leaders in Delhi to concede to the demand for political reservations for the ST community, but to no avail.
“Our delegation had once called on then Home Minister Rajnath Singh with a plea to include Goa along with Uttar Pradesh to extend the political reservations for our communities. While Uttar Pradesh got the benefit of reservations after the Centre issued an Ordinance, ST population in Goa are still looking forward to the day when the political reservations become a reality”, he recalled.
Prakash added: “Every time, we make a strong case for political reservations for the ST community, the powers that be maintain that it can be done only by constituting the Delimitation Commission. I have no idea why the Commission cannot be constituted to clear the reservations for the STs in Goa. I think Goa along with Jammu & Kashmir are the two States where ST population do not enjoy political reservations”.
The Goa State Scheduled Tribes Action Committee Secretary Manuel Barbosa asserted that Article 332 of the Constitution is very much clear that the ST population is entitled to reservations. He, however, lamented that the Article has not been implemented in Goa when the Constitution of India is Supreme.
“Our Committee had filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2007, which was disposed of on February 22, 2013, with a direction to the Election Commission to decide the reservation matter within eight months, but till date, the issue has not been addressed by the government”.
Manuel recalled that the association in 2021 had written a letter to the Chief Minister, drawing the government’s attention to Article 332 of the Constitution, clearly stating that the number of seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly in the State based on population.
