Comunidade

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The Comunidades of Goa are a variant of the system of "gaunkari" that was codified by the Portuguese( called as Gramasanstha ( ग्रामसंस्था ) ). Members of the comunidades are called gaonkars, or zonnkars (Portuguese jonoeiros). The former are the members of the village, the latter are entitled to zonn, or jono, which is a dividend paid by the comunidade to gaunkars and accionistas, the holders of accao, or shares.

Over time, the old institutions have lost their original characteristics and therefore now mere societies of rights holders who are members by birth. The village development activities, once the preserve of the communidades / gaunkaris, are now entrusted to the gram panchayat, rendering the gaunkaris non-functional. The working of the comunidades is rigorously controlled by the state government leaving little scope for them to act as self-governing units. Their sole function at the moment is to parcel out their land at government-approved rates. The Tenancy Act, which extended the rights of the tenants of private landowners to those who rented their lands from the comunidade, for the payment of a foro, resulted in most field property of the comunidades passing into private hands.

At present most of comunidade land is in the hills, which is either uncultivated or given over to cashew plantations, which typically have usufructs. In the coastal parts of the state, almost all the land that once belonged to the comunidades has been usurped. Typically, no action has been taken by governments against such usurpation: the viewpoint is rather the contrary, see for instance, a report in The Times of India.