MARGAO
A memorandum has been submitted to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant by a delegation led by former Minister Prakash Velip, National President of Rashtriya Adivasi Ekta Manch Yashwant Darbar, National General Secretary of Rashtriya Adivasi Ekta Manch Rakesh Meena journalist, demanding political reservation for the tribals of Goa.The memorandum pointed out that the tribals of Goa have not got a political reservation for the last 20 years when the tribal communities, Gawda, Kunbi and Velip communities were included in the list of Scheduled Tribes in 2003.
Saying that the ST population is pegged at around 10.47% of the total population of Goa, the memorandum stated “Despite this, not a single seat is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the state assembly. The demand for reservation of seats for the Scheduled Tribes in the Goa Legislative Assembly has been made many times in the tribal society of the country regarding political reservation."
The memorandum has called for the resolution of the long pending issue of political reservation and mete out justice to the Gawda, Kunbi and Velip communities. “The Scheduled Tribes of Goa have been denied their constitutional right of political reservation. Even before this, many times the tribal communities had demanded reservation of seats for STs in the assembly,” it stated.
