Aug 5- Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha today aimed at providing reservation to Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Goa Legislative Assembly. The bill notes that as per 2011 Census the ST population in Goa, standing at 1,49,275, is considerably higher than the SC population of 25,449, yet no seats are reserved for STs and hence and they are unable to avail the constitutional benefit of reservation afforded to them by article 332. As the Election Commission currently has no power to allocate seats for SCs and STs before the next census, the bill introduces enabling provisions to address this issue. The proposed legislation, once enacted, will require the Election Commission to amend the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008, making way for ST reservation in the 40-member Goa assembly based on revised population figures.
