Codified by the Portuguese
Comunidades are a variant of the system of "gaunkari" that was codified by the Portuguese (called Gramasanstha (ग्रामसंस्था)). The term gram refers to the village. "Comunidades" is the Portuguese word for "Communities".
Members, and divident
Members of the comunidades are called gaonkars, or zonnkars (in 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 acções (sing. acção), or shares.
Over time and across the centuries, the old institutions have lost their original characteristics and therefore now mere societies of rightsholders who are members by birth.
Changes over time
After Portuguese rule ended in Goa in 1961, the village development activities, once the preserve of the communidades or gaunkaris, are now entrusted to the gram panchayat, rendering the gaunkaris non-functional.
The working of the comunidades is tightly controlled by the Goa state government, which supporters of the comunidade movement say leaves little scope for them to act as self-governing units.
Limited role
Their sole function at the moment currently is to parcel out their land at government-approved rates. However, supporters of the comunidade movement, have been waging a determined if small campaign to safeguard what they see as their rights, and fight against the erosion of the comunidade system in Goa.
The Tenancy Act, passed in the 1960s by the then Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party government, extended the rights of the tenants of private landowners to those who rented their lands from the comunidade, for the payment of a quit-rent called the comunidade foro. This has resulted in most field property of the comunidades passing into private hands, and erosion of the comunidades as a whole.
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 populous and well-developed central coastal parts of the state, almost all the land that once belonged to the comunidades has been taken-over by various quarters—including state government land acquisition, tenants, and industrial quarters.
Typically, no action has been taken by governments against such usurpation: the viewpoint is rather the contrary, as reflected in.