New Delhi: MoS (IC) Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Centre on Monday introduced a bill to reserve seats for the Scheduled Tribes community in the Goa Assembly. The ST community has been demanding that four out of the 40 seats in the assembly be reserved for them. The Cabinet had passed the draft legislation in March.
The bill, Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024, was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. The bill states that the population of the Scheduled Tribes has increased considerably in Goa as per 2011 census in comparison to 2001 census figures.
While Goa’s total population is 14,58,545, the population of STs was 1,49,275. The Census showed that the population of SC stood at 25,449.
“But no seats are reserved for the STs and they are unable to avail the constitutional benefit of reservation,” the bill states. It also said that the Election Commission did not have the power to determine the number of seats for SCs and STs in any state prior to the next census, and so, the bill was brought in to provide for reservation of the increasing ST population.
As per the Bill, the EC will first amend the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008, to make way for the reservation. The EC will also take into consideration the revised population figures of the Scheduled Tribes and readjust the Legislative Assembly constituency once the bill becomes a law.