Dear Roland, You cannot collect your zono if you are not 'inscribed' in the roll of members of the Comunidade of that particular village of which you are a gaunkar. More over the initial inscription is only done in the month of May a year in advance of you attaining the age at which you are entitled to receive zono in your Comunidade. Also you have to register every year else you are not entitled to the zono for the next year. The list of eligible members is termed the 'Matricula das zoneiros' and helps to keep check on the number of zoneiros who are alive (and kicking) and to decide upon the amount of zono for that particular year.
The zono is calculated in the following manner. The income of the comunidade from all sources is computed first for the financial year beginning March and ending in February. This is different from most financial years that begin in April and end in March as in current use in the financial world today. Then the expenses are computed. The difference minus 10 percent 'derama' represents the amount to be distributed to the zoneiros for that year. Derama is the fee paid by the comunidade to the Administracao das Comunidades for the services rendered by the Administrator and the registrar. Please note that money accrued from the sale of land cannot be used to pay zono - the only source of income is therefore reduced to interest on deposits, leases and such other income other than that from capital gains. In the past there was a stipulated fee deduction at source as you like to call it if you 'wrote' your zono for a given year. This was supposedly a fee for the escrivao (now termed 'registrar' as per the official English translation of the Codigo das Comunidades). The system of fees to the escrivao has been dispensed with since long. Another thing is that if your name was not inscribed for five years, the bye laws of your comunidade permitting, you would have to be re-registered for that period and you would be paid arrears for that period in the month of may next. If your name was registered in the matricula for five years in your absence you would have to thank your aunt or someone else who registered you for all those years. Also rules for payment of arrears of zono vary from comunidade to comunidade. -- Tony de Sa. tonydesa at gmail dot com ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
