Tawadkar emphasised the positive impact of having ST Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) within the current government setup
Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar has affirmed his commitment to advocating for Scheduled Tribe (ST) reservation until a resolution is reached. He stated that he, along with Chief Minister Sawant, intends to meet with Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to address this issue. These remarks were made by Tawadkar during a press briefing held after an event in Ponda.
Tawadkar also emphasised the positive impact of having ST Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) within the current government setup. Additionally, he expressed confidence in their ability to construct an ST Bhavan (building) within a five-year timeframe.
However, the ST community in Goa, which has been actively pushing for political reservation starting from the 2024 Lok Sabha election, may need to exercise patience until at least 2026. This delay is due to the Central government's decision to initiate the delimitation process only after the aforementioned year.
The state government had formally requested the Central government to establish a delimitation commission to designate four assembly constituencies for ST community reservation.
The Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Goa, a group advocating for this quota, had previously issued a warning in July, asserting that the ST community would boycott the Lok Sabha election if the reservation was not implemented by that time.
Based on the 2011 census data, Scheduled Tribes constitute 10.23% of Goa's population, while Scheduled Castes account for 1.74%. Goa comprises 40 assembly constituencies, with only one (Pernem) being reserved for the Scheduled Caste community. Unfortunately, the Scheduled Tribe community currently has no such reservation in place.
