The Goa Legislative Assembly has unanimously adopted a private member resolution. The motion was introduced on Friday, July 21 by Dr. Ganesh Gaonkar, the leader of the Scheduled Tribes in the legislature.
| Goa Strike |
| Gaonkar’s Statement |
| The Declaration as ST |
| Gaonkar’s Speech After the Adoption of the Decision |
| The CM’s view |
| The Support Groups |
| MPRSTG |
| Statement by Joao Fernandes |
| Point to be Noted |
Goa Strike
ST Communities have been voicing their demands for 20 years. In May, they held a one-day hunger strike in Lohia Maidan, threatening not to participate unless their communities were informed before voting in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Gaonkar’s Statement
“The House of Representatives has approved the Goa Legislative Assembly government to draft a constitution for the Schedule Tribes of the State of Goa. According to the 2011 Census, the Scheduled Tribes (ST) constituting 10.23% of Goa’s power befits people in society and politics, ST community’s main demand in the past year or political constraints in the last year, indicates that many groups in the community have been in the OBC category since 1968 in the category of Vaj Bihar. The Goa government declared that there are Kunabibe tribes and Vedic tribes.
The Declaration as ST
He added, “Over the years, the main demand of the ST community has been political exclusion. It is worth noting that many groups in the ST community have been in the OBC category since 1968, but in 2003, during the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Goa government declared the Gawada, Kunabith tribes and Velip as Schedule Tribes.”
Gaonkar’s Speech After the Adoption of the Decision
Gaonkar, after the decision was adopted, said, “I thank all the members of the Goa Legislative Assembly for their support of this decision. I trust our Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant and the BJP Central government will make it happen.”
The CM’s view
Speaking about the decision, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the letter on this issue was sent to the central government. “We are serious about ST’s reservation. We will send a delegation to represent the Home Minister and the Law Minister.”
The Support Groups
Sanvordem BJP MLA Ganesh Gaonkar’s decision gave hope to the ST community. Opposition supporters of the movement have also asked the BJP government to send it to the central government. The community in the state threatened to block future elections, saying that they should be held as soon as possible; Goa Progressive Party MLA Vijai Sardesai said that the announcement of elections should be guaranteed before the 2024 elections, “I support this.”
MPRSTG
According to the report of the ‘Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribe of Goa’ (MPRSTG), many young people are participating in efforts to achieve this goal. Realizing the seriousness of the problem, many non-ST politicians supported the movement and had previously submitted a statement to bring the issue to the attention of the government.
Statement by Joao Fernandes
MPRSTG President Joao Fernandes told IANS that he welcomes MLA Ganesh Gaonkar’s decision, but that the state government should work with the Center to resolve the issue. “The ball is in the hands of the central government, so our government needs to address this issue and resolve it before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024,” Fernandez said. They also said that although STs of Goa were granted ST rights ten years ago, the government did not comply with their demands for parliamentary elections.
Point to be Noted
Currently, there are four ST MLA’s in Parliament including Leader Ramesh Tawadkar.
