The Portuguese Colonial Act was adopted in 1930, and affected

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

, sanctioning legal discrimination and differentiating them from the metropolitan

Portuguese people The Portuguese people () are a Romance nation and ethnic group indigenous to Portugal who share a common culture, ancestry and language. The Portuguese people's heritage largely derives from the pre-Celts, Proto-Celts (Lusitanians, Conii) a ...

. Adopted at the behest of

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the re ...

, then the Minnister of Finance, this legal act caused Portuguese Indians to lose a number of benefits, including free trips to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

for rest and recreation, reduced allowances compared to white officials, and other facilities that the white Portuguese had overseas which were not made available to Portuguese Indians. The Act was repealed only in 1950, in part because of the contributions of

Froilano de Mello Indalencio Pascoal Froilano de Mello (17 May 1887 – 9 January 1955) was a Goan microbiologist, medical scientist, professor, author and an independent MP in the Portuguese parliament. During his scientific career, Mello was responsible for t ...

, a Goan Catholic doctor and an independent

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. He represented Goa in the Assembly of the Republic. He fought for the rights of Portuguese Indians. De Mello was so successful that, from 1950, Goans regained their status and were treated in equal terms like other Portuguese citizens from the metropolis.

References

{{Authority control Portuguese Empire Portuguese India Former Portuguese colonies Portuguese people of colonial India Government of Portugal Repealed Portuguese legislation 1930 in law 1930 in Portugal 1930 in Portuguese India