‘Manjunath changing surname to Fernandes’: MLAs object to ‘outsiders’ taking Goan names, CM vows crackdown

Opposition MLAs Viresh Borkar of the Revolutionary Goans Party, Altone D’Costa of the Congress, and Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai moved a calling attention motion, raising concerns about people changing their surnames to Goan surnames. Drawing attention to newspaper advertisements declaring such name changes, the Opposition legislators said the “outsiders” were exploiting legal loopholes and adopting Goan names and surnames, calling the “trend” an “erasure of the distinct Goan identity” and a threat to the state’s demography.

The Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, lays down the rules for carrying out changes in names. In 2019, the Goa Assembly passed an amendment to make it a cognisable offence, punishable with imprisonment, to carry out fraudulent name changes without following the laid-down procedures. The amendment was brought after MLAs across party lines and several communities raised concerns over changes in names and surnames advertised in newspapers by “outsiders”, alleging they had adopted Goan names and surnames to avail benefits under government schemes, to apply for a Portuguese passport, or to inherit land.

The Assembly brought in more stringent provisions and passed another amendment Bill in 2022, which mandated that a person desiring to change his or her name “should be born in Goa and his or her birth should be registered in the state of Goa” and “that either his parents or grandparents should be born in Goa”. The amendment also vested the power to approve name change applications with a ‘Civil Judge Junior Division’ or a ‘District Judge’. Earlier, this power was vested in the Registrar or the Chief Registrar of the state.

Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said, “This is a serious concern. Identity is a carrier of our history, community and legacy.”

Congress’s Yuri Alemao, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said, “Manjunath is applying to change to Francisco Fernandes. This is perceived as an invasion from one state to another, from one community to another.”

While acknowledging that a change of one’s name or surname is the right of a citizen, Alemao asked what “specific” steps the government was considering to address the issue.

Responding to the calling attention motion, Sawant told the House that the government enacted the Goa Change of Name and Surname Act, 1990, to lay down the procedure for name change of any person born in the state of Goa, and that it was subsequently amended to address complaints over loopholes.

The Chief Minister said the government has been taking all necessary steps to ensure there are no cases of the change in name or surname, or both, by any ineligible persons to traditional Goan surnames.

“Similarly, penal provision under section 3A was introduced in the Act to make the Act more stringent and further the offence under the Act was made cognizable, where anyone changes his name or surname or both or publishes any notice/advertisement for such change without following the procedure as laid down in section 3, punishable with imprisonment… Further, certain conditions were subsequently laid down under the Change of Name and Surname (Amendment) Act, 2022, whereby a person should be born in Goa and his birth should be registered in the state of Goa, and further either of his parents or grandparents should be born in the state of Goa. Only such a person can apply for a change of name,” he said.