On Tuesday, December 1, 2020, 08:11:04 a.m. CST, Tony de Sa <[email protected]> wrote: The Code of Comunidades, or to give it its formal name "Legislative Enactment No. 2070 dated 15th April, 1961" which is an existing law gives insight into the workings of the comunidades.
In comunidades where there are shares (accaoes) women do get their share of the dividend or Jono. In other gauncarias, where there are no shareholders, women do not get Jono. Before trying to make radical changes to the code, we should try to understand why our ancestors enacted this code which existed even before the arrival of the Portuguese in Goa. The Portuguese only formally codified it. The Comunidades protected the lands, the bunds (dykes) and the sluice gates. These were built by our ancestors by the sweat of their brow with no heavy equipment to aid them. Irresponsible legislation has slowly seen decline in the lands, the bunds and the sluice gates. The so called farmers associations which are supposed to maintain the bunds and the sluice gates are unable to do so. Neither is the comunidade in a position to do so as there is no income from the fields due to the "land reform" acts which have destroyed farming, particularly rice farming in Goa. --------------------------------------- Tony de Sa, You have dropped some interesting information here. On a visit to Colvale in 1971, my dad took me for a walk on the comunidade lands next to the church. He showed me the short cut he used to take from his mom's house to church, weaving thru the rice fields. Those rice fields on the east side of the church were about a mile long and half a mile wide. There was a fresh water pond, at a point furthest from the river that served as a reservoir and also in which water buffaloes used to bathe. The pond water was used to irrigate the fields in the dry season, when people would grow spinach. On the west side of the church, the comunidade land is about two miles long and a mile wide. Perfectly flat land with rice stalks of every hue of green - defines Goa to me. Bisecting the paddy fields was a raised road with the "pato" in the middle. The road was a good ten feet above the rice fields and my preteen mind could not imagine the fields flooding to the extent that the higher white washed cross in the center would be the only clue to cyclists and motorists as to where the road lay during the monsoons. The Chapora waters at Colvale is still brackish, hence wooden sluice gates kept the river water away from the paddy fields. At times the three inch thick wooden planks on the gates were raised and the fresh water poured out - carrying nutrients, insects, etc. - which attracted crabs, fish and fishermen to the gates. I remember seeing many an old man fishing near the gates and getting enough seafood for a curry dinner. On my next trip to Colvale, a decade later, there were no rice fields. I was told that jealously or fighting led someone to destroy the sluice gates and the salt water killed the fields. Both comunidade there areas today have mangrove trees that are about 30ft tall. A few months ago, a crocodile was found killed in the area. I am glad I got to experience how a community could benefit from communal land but anyone born in Colvale after the mid 1960s, will not have had this experience. Lastly, with regards to zonn, every time my dad landed in Goa i.e. after every four years, the first thing his buddies would ask him was if he had collected his zonn. Apparently, the yearly amount would remain with the treasurer, accumulating, till the recipient showed up to collect it. Mervyn
