Digital Goa, August 5 – Lok Sabha today passed the ‘Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024’. The bill aims to enable the reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Goa Legislative Assembly to ensure their effective democratic participation and provide for readjustment of assembly constituencies. Replying to the discussion, Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the bill is intended to grant political reservation to Scheduled Tribes in view of their rising population in Goa. He pointed out that while there was previously provision only for Scheduled Caste reservation, the demographic growth of the ST community makes their inclusion necessary. As per the Primary Census Abstract, 2011 for the State of Goa, the Total Population was 14,58,545; the population of Scheduled Castes was 25,449 and the population of Scheduled Tribes was 1,49,275. However, in the 40 member Goa Assembly one seat was reserved for SC category while no seats were reserved for ST. Incidentally, the bill was introduced in the Lower House on Aug 5, 2024 and had been pending since then. Moreover, this is the first bill to be passed by the Lok Sabha in the ongoing Monsoon session which has seen disruptions by the opposition on various issues, including the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
