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Goa ST leaders reject newly approved bill for reservation in state assembly
On Thursday evening, Union minister Piyush Goyal, speaking to the media after a cabinet meeting, announced the approval of the ‘Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2024
Panaji: The association of scheduled tribes (ST) under the banner of Mission Political Reservation for STs in Goa have rejected the Union cabinet’s decision to approve the ST reservation bill in the state assembly, saying “the move didn’t satisfy their demands”.
On Thursday evening, Union minister Piyush Goyal, speaking to the media after a cabinet meeting, announced the approval of the ‘Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes Bill, 2024, which will empower the Census Commissioner to notify the population of STs in Goa paving the way for the delimitation ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
However, the ST morcha, who have demanded that a delimitation commission be notified before the Lok Sabha polls are officially announced, said that the cabinet approval for the bill “means nothing” since it will not be until the next Lok Sabha convenes that this bill can be considered for passing.
“They approved a resolution passing the bill ‘The Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Bill’. This bill is just a draft approved by the cabinet. It is not a law. If they were to bring an ordinance it could be a law at least for six months. But here they have brought a draft which has been approved by the cabinet,” advocate João Fernandes, the president of the Mission, said.
He added that the bill has to be passed by both houses of parliament, then it needs to be assented to by the president but until then, it is not a bill.
“This is an attempt to cheat us for our votes. If we have to get a reservation by 2027, then the process has to start now and for it to start now, this bill has to be passed as an ordinance or the notification for the delimitation commission should start now,” Fernandes said.
The bill was also rejected by a section of ST community members led by Rupesh Velip who are on a hunger strike demanding the notification of the reservation before the Lok Sabha polls.
“This bill is not acceptable. We have been demanding a final notification (of the delimitation commission). This bill now has to go to Parliament and then be passed. Then it has to go to the Registrar General of India and only then it will be implemented. States like Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, etc have been given a delimitation commission via an executive order. We have been demanding a similar notification for Goa. Now this is just an attempt to keep us waiting more and more,” Velip said vowing to continue his hunger strike.
The BJP, however, said that the passing of the bill by the cabinet represented the fulfilment of the promise made to the ST community.
“This is a major victory for the ST Community of Goa! I wholeheartedly thank the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji, for Central Cabinet approval to readjustment of the seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa for providing reservations to the Scheduled Tribes of the State,” chief minister Pramod Sawant, said.
As per the bill passed by the cabinet, the election commissioner will amend the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008, to make way for ST reservation in the 40-member Goa assembly.
There is currently no reservation for the ST community in the state assembly seats in Goa. In the year 2003, three more communities were added to the list of Scheduled Tribes in the state thus substantially adding to the numbers of ST population in the state which was yet to be reflected in the seats reserved even though the ST population is now estimated to be 10% of the state’s population.
The bill could now only be brought in the next Lok Sabha to be formed after the upcoming general elections.
