PANAJI
Members of Goa's Scheduled Tribe (ST) community who had gathered in the thousands at the GEC grounds in Farmagudi to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their umbrella organisation 'UTAA' reiterated 12 of their demands via resolutions and political reservations (quota of seats in Assembly) before the 2027 polls topped the list.
All the 12 demands, including filling of backlog vacancies in direct recruitment and promotions, were later presented to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who was the chief guest at the programme.
Other demands included determining the proportion of scheduled tribe population in the State, banning the sale of land in possession of tribals to non-tribals, effective implementation of Forest Rights Act, 2006 and fast-track settlement of claims among others.
The demand for reserving four of the 40 seats in the Goa legislative assembly has been on the top of the community's agenda for several years and gained momentum following a year-long agitation in the run-up to this year's Lok Sabha elections.
The resolution passed at the Farmagudi event on Sunday stated that fullfilling all the requirements, the government of India and the government of Goa "shall provide the political reservation for the ST community which will be implemented before the 2027 general elections in Goa.
Another resolution objected to the sub-division or sub-categorisation within the ST communities.
"UTAA in one voice condemns any efforts to create sub-division within a community by any judicial mandate. The Parliament is the sole competent authority to deal with matters on representation and constitutional amendments," the resolution said.
Implementation of the tribal sub-plan, construction of the Tribal Bhavan by November 2026, annual support scheme for agriculture producers and vendors, reconstitution of the tribal advisory council (TAC) of Goa and enhanicing of financial benefits and reforms in social welfare and educational schemes are some of the other demands.
