Will the move of scrapping the official language act and bringing in a new act to include Romi Konknni further strengthen the language?

Read what people responded to this question in Herald TV section Street Voices

Published on:

09 Sep 2024, 1:56 pm

PANJIM: Raising concerns over the Official Language Act 1987, the Global Konknni Forum (GKF) has deemed it a ‘communal act’ enacted with the intent to marginalise the Roman script used for Konkani by the Catholic community in Goa. The Forum has demanded that the Act be amended in the forthcoming Assembly session. In this edition of Street Voices, Herald TV spoke to various people on whether the move of Romi Konknni protagonists to ask MLAs to support the scrapping of the current official language act and bring in a new act including Romi Konknni, will further strengthen the language?

The first question which comes to my mind is “Whether the Goa Assembly has the powers to scrap the Official Language Act based on which Konkani was included in the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution. I’m not very clear on this technicality. Secondly, I have spoken to some MLAs who would be in support of putting Romi Konknni in the Language Act, don’t seem to be in favour of disturbing the present status as they fear a pandora’s box will open up. There is no doubt that the Konkani Language will be strengthened by including Romi Konknni in the Act. Whether this will happen, let’s wait and watch.

Trajano D’Mello, Political Analyst

There is no need to scrap any language act. Secondly, there is no need to bring in a new act for Konkani. What I feel is we only need to include Romi script in the Official Language Act. There is only need for addition. So where Devanagari is written as the official script, Devanagari as well as Romi needs to be added. There is no need for any deletion, there is need only for inclusion. By including Romi Script, Konknni will flourish more. Because Romi script is there in the whole world in many languages.

Anthony D’Silva, Social Activist

Today Konkani is recognized as the official language, but the recognized script is Devanagari. We have made an agitation demanding Romi Lipi. Today there is need for adopting Romi Lipi. Already, an awareness campaign has been started by the Global Konknni Forum under the leadership of Kennedy Afonso. Many village panchayats have passed resolutions to make Romi Lipi the official script. We want Romi Lipi along with Devanagari as the official script. The government should take this amendment up. Romi Lipi is easy for our students and Konkani Language will prosper if Romi Lipi is adopted.

Mariano Ferrao, Social Activists