On 9th August, the world will commemorate World Indigenous Day. It serves as a solemn reminder that the first peoples of the earth are still waiting for justice. The tribal struggle in Goa by indigenous communities like the Gawda, Kunbi, Velip, and Dhangar—collectively known as Mull Goenkars (original settlers)—has been going on for decades against social marginalisation, land alienation, loss of traditional forest rights, and a lack of adequate political representation in the state legislature. The Central Government has at long last fulfilled a long-pending political demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) seat reservations in the Goa Legislative Assembly. Tribal groups pushed for decades to secure reserved political constituencies in the 40-member Goa Assembly. The Census Commissioner must now rapidly update population figures for the ST community, and the Election Commission must notify specific assembly constituencies ahead of upcoming electoral milestones.
The Union government has now notified the Act that grants political reservation for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community in the 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly. This operationalisation of the Act passed earlier by Parliament means four seats for tribal candidates will be reserved in the Goa Assembly for the first time. Unregulated commercial projects, real estate expansion, and industrialisation continue to threaten traditional tribal hamlets and local ecology. Community leaders and platforms like GAKUVED (Gawda, Kunbi, Velip and Dhangar Federation) actively push for the proper legal enforcement of the Forest Rights Act to safeguard traditional land titles. Grassroots campaigns frequently demand official legal notification of traditional tribal settlements to halt unauthorised commercial land grabbing.
The story of Indigenous peoples is the oldest story of humanity—and perhaps its greatest unfinished injustice. Tribals nurtured forests, rivers, mountains and grasslands with an understanding that the earth was not property to be owned but a living inheritance to be protected for future generations. Their knowledge systems sustained biodiversity, preserved ecosystems and developed forms of governance rooted in consensus and community. Ironically, these very communities remain among the poorest, most marginalised and most vulnerable people on earth. The history of colonisation was never merely about political conquest. The cry of Indigenous peoples echoes far beyond forests, deserts and mountains, from communities uprooted from ancestral lands to those whose identity is erased in the name of power. Why must they bear the cost of another’s prosperity?
Ranjan Solomon via email
