Team Herald
MARGAO: Minister for Environment and Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira recently assured the Global Konkani Forum (GKF) that he would communicate their sentiments regarding equal status for Konkani in the Roman script to the government. However, he noted that the Official Language issue ‘ended’ in 1987, when Devanagiri was recognised as the sole script.
On Friday, a delegation led by GKF president Kennedy Afonso met with the Minister, urging him to advocate for equal recognition of the Roman script for Konkani. The Minister acknowledged the request but declined to present a Bill in the assembly, citing his inability to do so. He also refused to send a letter to the Commission for linguistic minorities, as requested by the GKF. “Being a Minister, he could not present any Bill in the assembly and said that he could not present the draft of the two Bills in the Assembly”, said Afonso.
The GKF delegation informed him that Article 14 of the Indian Constitution promotes equality in diversity, while Article 29(1) protects the rights of minorities regarding their language, script, and culture. They argued that these provisions should be respected in the context of Konkani in the Roman script.
The memorandum submitted by the GKF further pointed out that the new education policy does not impose any specific language or script on students but encourages teaching in the house language, mother tongue, or regional language. The GKF reiterated that since the Official Language Act of 1987 did not recognise the Roman script, the Catholic community, which primarily uses it, has been advocating for its introduction in schools from Classes 1 to 10, to ensure the survival of Konkani in Roman script.
They also requested that the government instruct the Education Department to develop the textbooks and infrastructure to implement this from the next academic year.