The Comunidades of Goa are a unique and age-old collective land-ownership pattern that has been predominating in the state of Goa, India.
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.
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.
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.