REPORT OF THE OMMITTEE OF THE PROBLEMS OF MUNDI<ARS» IN THE UNION TERRITORY OF GOA, DAMAN AND DIU X9(J):(Z).23148.N71 K6 119471 PRINTeD AT THE GOVERNMENT PI:INTING PRESS, •PANJIM-1966 GJ.I.i' THE COMMITTEE QIE Tl{!E PR0¥fi}!t.\ OF <<MUNDKARS>> IN THE UNION TERRITORY OF GOA, DAMAN AND DIU Chapters Pages r. l'N'l'ROIDUCTION • . • . •• • • •• •• • • •• l!r. HISTORY OiF IR>El!.JA.'I!OCl'NSIH:IIP iBIE'l'w.EEN :ciMUND'KAJRIS> .AJNID «<BHA.'llKiAJRlS> • • • • • • • • • • . • • •• l!rr. •ENQurRY BY THE COMiMiiTl'EE 7~0 llV. !F'1INIDllN'GS AND RIEOOM!MiENIDATIONIS OF 'IIHIE OOIMIMil'liDEE 21:-39 Appendices T. IMlJN[)IKAIR. LAW:- (<>) ROYtAL DEORIElE OiF 24th AIUGlJIST 1901; (•R!EWOKEJD) 41-42 (~) LEGliSLA.TWE OIRDER Nil. 19!>2, DA'l'ElD OOtih NOVtElMBER 1959 ... ]![. :Fru}FOIR.iMA. SENT TO THE VILLA.GE iPAN<JHiA,Y.A'l1S AN'D. IF'.AJC:nUAIL nATA COIJUElC'I1ED IRIEGM!iol!N'G IM'UlN'IliKAIR. 4'7-& liiL EXrl1RIA.CT FROM THlE <XJIDE OF OOiM!UNmi>AlDES RELA'l1llNG TO .DEASES OF LAJNID FOR !(J()INSTR/UCTroN OiF RffilSIDEN- 54~1 liV. 'PIR.OiPOSED 1F101UiR'I1H J;1D¥E YEAIR PILAN FOR HOIUSING IN 62-66 'I'ABiLES SHOW!ING DE'I'Al'LED IF'AC'lU.A!L !DATA IWlTH REFlElR!ElNOE TO A.PIPEND!IiX n:. Introduction Soon after the popular Government assumed office, it was observed that the Land Reforms Commission, which had submitted its Report in February. 1964, had ~eft out of it;; ambit, a very important problem that existed in this Territory, namely, rellab'onship between «iBhatkars» and «MundkarS>>. The former were the land owners and the latter were originally deemed to be settlers for watch and ward a111.d for looking after the property, in c6nsideration Olf which they were permitted to construct dwelfu!g houses in the land. The contractual obligations between the «<Bhatkars» and «!Mundkars» were laid down in Decree dated 24-8•19(}1, which were subsequently amplified and modified in Legislative Order No. 1952, dalt.ed 26-11-1959. Government felt that the various provisions of the law required further modifieations in the context of SociQ-IEcorromic and the constitutional changes that had talren place in the Territory. In the meanwhile, Shri D. K. Chopdenlrer, M. L. A., sought to move a reso­ lution in the Legis!atiye Assembly, on the problem. Accordinglly, a Com­ mittee was appointed in Apri11964 under the Chairmanship of Shri Tony Fernandes, MiniSter for Agriculture, to go into the question furt;her and make suitable reco=endations for putting the relationship between the «Bhatkars» and «'Mundka.rs» on a more ratiorra.'l. and permanent basis. Besides the Chairman, the Co=ittee comprised of the.following: ,;;-- 1. Dr. Sebastiao Mazarelo, M. L. A. 2. Shri Orlando s. Lobo ,M. L. lA. 3. Shri Gana'ba [)essai, M. L. A. 4. Shri Jaysingrao Rlme, M. L.A. 5. Shri Dattaram K. Chopdenker, M. L. A. · (Ex-Officio as Mover Olf the Resolution) 6. Shrl Sridor Tamba, Govt. Pleader, P!liiljim. 7. Dr. S. A. Nadkarni', (on his retirement from Govt. Service). The Development Commissioner was appointed as Member-"Secretary. Subsequently, he was rePlaced by the Revenue SecretarY. 2. The Collliirittee held 5 meetings and also Visited certain villages in Bardez, Sa1celte, Quepem, Pernem and Goa Ta.'l.uk!as. The Co=ittee. also invited the views of members Olf t:he public, Panchayats, Bliock Develop- ment Committees and other organisations, for purposes of considering · a reform of the «!Mundkar» legislation. A notice askmg for the views ' of the public was published on ~~1965 with a s'tiiplrlation that sugges­ tions should be sent to the Committee within a period of one month either in person or by post. The following prominent citizens were also addressed specifically for giving their valuable advi<ce in this matter al!ld some of them have replied:__; 1. Shri Yeshwant Ba:bu Probhu iDessai (Quepem) 2. Shri Gopal Apa Kamat (Bichollm) · 3. Shri Jaiwantrao Sardessa:i ('Bicholim) 4. Dr. Antonio Furtado (Chinchinim) 5. Shri Viswanath Lawa:nde (Pa:njim) . 6. Shri Peter !Alvares, M. P. 7. Shri Pandurang Mulgaonkar (:Mapu!;a) 8. Shri Narsinha Naik (!Margao) 9. 'President, Associacao dos Proprietarios e Agricultores. 10. Dr. Paulo L. Teles (Panjim) 11. Shri Antonio Noronha Rodrigues (iPanjim). 3. As a reslrlt of the enquiries conducted by the Cormiri'ttee and talcing into consideration the various suggestions and Views received in response to the notice, the Committee were able to arrive at certain broad conclu­ sions described in subsequent chapters. 4. Copies of the Decree and Legislative Diploma are ·at Appendix I. 5. A detahled factual analysis of the present position in rega!rd to dis­ tribution of «Mundkars» in the Tettitory is at Appenlfur. II. 6. An extract from the «_Code of Comunidades» relating to leases of land for various purposes including construction of hou.Ses, is at Appen­ dix m. 7. The draft Plan of this 'Administration on «!Housing» for the Fourth Five Year Plan rs at Appendix :W> . - - 8. The rEIOO=endations of the Committee are contained in Chap- ~~ .. .. 2 CHAPTER II Brief history of relationship between Mundkars and Bhatkars It is very diffiiCult to trace the histocy of «Mundkarism», as there are no re>cords to show how thi's system was first introduced in Goa.· It·looks from the records that only whe'n some conflicts arose, some legislation was introduced in 1901. Earlier to that, nothing is known a~bout <<Mund­ karism>>. 2. However, Mundkarism is essentially a land problem for a homestead and as such, the question as .to who settled ori. the [and fi!rst- wh&ther the lan<Hord or the mundk~a.r- needs rto be> e'Xa.Illined. There is a certain system pre'Va'lent in Goa, known as «Gauntons» of the Cunbis, where> the ! Cun'bis ~e>d on the> Goveriunent land for ages together and develOped ' - that land and still continue to be on the same land without any disturbance. In certaitn cases there are> no records even to prove that the Cunbis pos­ sessed that land !~ally. It belongs to them only by virtue of their oC'Cupy-. ing the> same> for centuries together. Only in some> cases we -find that this occupation :is legalil9e>d.'by them by obtaining -«Aforamentos» of the occu­ pied land. Such <<Gauntons» are mainly av:ailalble in the remote parts of Goa, such as, in thE! Ne>w Conquest areas, wher.e the in-roods of proprie­ torships were rather slow. We do not notice such <<Gaunt{)lllS» systems on that large scal.e in the Old Conquest areaJS, where> the in-roods to proprie­ torship have made rapid progress. · 3, It :is, therefore, felt that on a. larger scale th~ settlement on the Go- 1 vernment land by the agriculturist co=tinity must have come first and thereafter may be that some private -parties applied fo~ the land and got it in their own name as <<AforamentoS» or, on sale from the, Government. The occupation of the old community on that la.nd continued and the occupants became Mundkars of the new legal possessors, L e. the land-. lords. Thus overnight the whole village or the settlement was converted into m~4kar settlements, as the landlords came into the picture. 4.- It is .possible that in .the Old Conquest a.reaJS, a.l:l the «Gautons» 3JI'e converted into private properties .and the people living thereill are converted ·into mundkars. Hence we do not se.e <<Gaunton» system en -a large scale in these areas. 3 5. So it can safely be said that the mundkars came on the land first, which perhaps was not developed, and the landlord came afterwards, who developed that land in a systematic way. This may be the remote history right at the time when the change was taking place from the Government or Jagirdari· Ownership of the land to that of private owner­ ship. 6. At a later stage when the tendency to own land went on increasing, the ownership extended to the New Conquest Areas also,. where the po­ pulation was rather, scanty and finding the need of labour to develop the land, may be exact opposite developments took place in that area, though not on a large scale, but on a comparatively small scale. Here the landlord must have obtained the land first and put a sufficient number of settlers on the land as !Ilundkars. 7. So in the first case it looks that the settlers were on the land first. Whereas in the second case, the ownership of the land came first. «Gauntons» system in that area remained, as it was not distur~ because there was no land scarcity in that area~ 8. Gradua:lly the ownership thus increased and it was found that practically very little land worth settling was left with the Government and 'as the population went on increasing and the need for more land for houses was felt, there was no other alternative but to request either the lmdlords or the Comunidades or any other land owning agencies· for a piece of land for dwelling houses and since the landlords also wanted \ their areas to be inhabited for various reasons, the same i. e. the land, was given very freely. Evolution took place, all-round development us­ hered in and even the social statuS and the position of the mundkars want on changing. Mundkars could no more be treated as complete de­ pendents and conflicts perhaps was the restilt: Various evils in the system of dominated and suppressed class of people must have also created re­ action amongst the mundkarii)1glllinst 'the ]andlords, but the mundkars had to live with the situation: ' 9.