26/06/2026
INTERNSHIPS
Please join us for a Presentation on
Turning Against the Tides:
The Ramponkar Movement and the Struggle for Goa’s Coastline
by Siya Sukhtankar
IPM Student, Indian Institute of Management Shillong
Moderated by
Tyrone Fernandes
Independent Researcher, Goa
Thursday, 2 July 2026 | 4 pm
Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, Goa
Please join us for tea at 3:30 pm.
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https://xchr.substack.com/p/turning-against-the-tides-the-ramponkar
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Turning Against the Tides
The Ramponkar Movement and the Struggle for Goa’s Coastline
When mechanised trawlers began displacing traditional fishing nets along Goa’s coastline in the late 1970s, the fishing communities of Goa — the Ramponkars, whose livelihoods had been shaped by the sea across generations — found themselves fighting not just for their catch, but for their way of life. Into this crisis stepped the Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott, a collective that channelled the urgency of a social and ecological crisis into a sustained movement, carrying the fishermen’s cause all the way to the highest offices in the land.
This presentation explores the various avenues through which the Ekvott fought: not only on the streets of Panaji, but also through telegrams addressed to the government and prominent public figures, press statements issued at moments of crisis and handwritten pages that capture a community’s fight for its livelihood, its coastline and its right to exist on its own terms in the face of rapidly developing technology.
It draws on the archival collection related to the Ramponkar Movement, housed at XCHR and assembled over the years by Fr. Braz Faleiro SJ, whose painstaking documentary work preserves what the movement demanded, defended and accomplished. Newspaper clippings, letters, memoranda, petitions and organisational records — this archive holds the texture of the struggle of ordinary people in their quest to protect their coastline from the vested interests that sought to exploit it. To read these documents is to encounter a community that understood, early and clearly, that the battle for the water would also be won on land, in ink. By preserving the documentary memory of a people’s movement that asserted the rights of traditional fishing communities and defended Goa’s coastal heritage, the Ramponkar Archives exemplify this year’s International Archives Day theme, : Rights, Memory & Futures.
Braz Faleiro SJ (1936–2023) was a Jesuit priest and social activist who dedicated his life to the rights of marginalised communities in Goa. A pioneer of Jesuit social action in the state, he worked with mine workers, agricultural labourers and traditional fishing communities, playing a prominent role in supporting the Ramponkar Movement against mechanised trawling. He also meticulously documented the movement, preserving its correspondence, petitions, press statements and organisational records. Now housed at the XCHR, this archival collection provides a rich documentary record of one of Goa’s most significant social and environmental justice movements.
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Siya Sukhtankar
Siya Sukhtankar is a first-year student in the Integrated Programme in Management (IPM) at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong. Born and brought up in Goa, she is currently undertaking a four-week social internship at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, where she is working on the archival collection of the Ramponkar Movement, assembled by Braz Faleiro SJ. Her academic interests include public policy, management strategy and social impact. She enjoys writing, travelling, learning new things and a good fish curry rice. This presentation reflects her work with the Ramponkar archival collection and explores the documentary history of one of Goa’s most significant environmental and social justice movements.
Tyrone Fernandes
Tyrone Fernandes is an independent researcher specializing in the history of early to mid-twentieth-century cinema in Goa. He holds a postgraduate degree in History from Goa University. His research examines the socio-political structures of Goan film history, focusing on state regulation, the production, distribution and reception of early Konkani cinema and the domestic and international films screened during this period. Additionally, his work investigates the elitist control and oligopolistic structures governing cinema theatre ownership. Beyond film history, Fernandes’ broader academic interests encompass subaltern studies, particularly the representation of subaltern communities in historical and visual narratives. He also explores the shifting depictions of Goa in Indian cinema across various decades.
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Xavier Centre of Historical Research
B B Borkar Road, Porvorim, Goa 403521, India
xchr.in | [email protected]
