Use Kannada script for Konkani: Writers

MANGALORE: The row over scripts intensified with Karnataka Konkani Writers Forum (KKWF) insisting on Kannada as the script for Konkani.

�For over 125 years Konkani has grown along with Kannada and the growth should be sustained in future too,� KKWF general secretary Edward L Nazareth told reporters here on Monday.

Karnataka State Konkani Linguistic Minority Educational Institutions� Association last week had rejected Konkani Sahitya Academy�s decision to teach Konkani in Kannada script.

Dismissing justifications on Devanagari script for Konkani, Nazareth said under no circumstances should Konkani be taught in Devanagari script and the government�s textbook committee, directorate of state for education, research and training (DSERT), should not succumb to pressures on framing Konkani textbooks in Devanagari script.

The Association is only interested in setting roadblocks to initiatives on teaching Konkani in Kannada.

�The forum has only 20 to 25 and not 60 educational institutions as they have claimed,� he said and added: �Just because one of their members was not accommodated, they have been opposing Konkani Academy�s efforts to teach Konkani in Kannada.�

Among three scripts, Roman, Kannada and Devanagari, Kannada is the most popular and has highest readership. Challenging the protagonists of Devanagari script for Kannada to show one Konkani daily in Devanagari script in the state, Nazareth said the only daily in Goa had a circulation of 300 copies.