MARGAO
Union Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Meghawal has assured a delegation of Mission Political Reservations for Scheduled Tribes of Goa that he would draw the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mete out justice to the Scheduled Tribes of Goa by providing the ST communities political reservations.
A delegation of the Mission Political Reservation called on Minister Arjun Meghawal along with Union Minister of State for Tourism, Shripad Naik at his official residence in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum to consider the proposal submitted by the government of Goa regarding reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes of Goa in Goa Assembly.
The delegation briefed the Minister for Law and Justice that the Goa Legislative Assembly in its current session on 21st July 2023 has unanimously passed a private members resolution moved by Ganesh Gaonkar, ST MLA of BJP party to recommend and urge Central government to reserve seats for STs of Goa in Legislative Assembly.
The delegation has requested Meghawal 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 the current Parliament Session or in the forthcoming budgetary session or by bringing an Ordinance before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Spokesperson of the Mission, Govind Shirodkar reiterated that the three communities namely Gawda, Kunbi and Velip were included in the list of Scheduled Tribes of Goa in the year 2003. “As per 2011 census, the population of ST people in Goa is pegged around 10.23 per cent. However, even after 20 years, the STs of Goa have been deprived of the political reservation,” he added.
Secretary Rupesh Velip pointed out that the delegation brought to the notice of the Union Law Minister about the visit of the 30-member parliamentary committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribes (2022-23) headed by Dr Kirit Solanki in Goa in the month of January 2023, wherein he had given direction to the authorities of the State government to take necessary steps to give political reservation for the STs of Goa.
The delegation also brought on record of the Minister that Ministry of Law and Justice vide notification dated 06-03-2020 had given political reservation to Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the State of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland by constituting the Delimitation Commission for purpose of delimitation of Assembly and parliamentary constituencies, however State of Goa was not considered in the said notification.
