Noted writer, poet and stalwart of Konkani movement, Mr Uday Bhembre, addressing a press conference in connection with the forthcoming 3-day literary conference, yesterday said that a special seminar on ‘Sanskritikaran (Culturalisation) - An Idea of a Konkani Cultural State’ participated by experts, will discuss various aspects of this unique concept.
Around 50 lakh people following Konkani in Devnagri, Roman, Kannada and Malayalam scripts are based in the four different states of Goa, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka, and are separated by the physical distances, he said, adding that the seminar will look into the possibility of forming an abstract state made up of followers of Konkani.
The remote possibility of bringing such a state into existence due to the non-contiguous geographical areas in the four states dominated by the Konkani people, has prompted us to make efforts in this direction, at the public level, Mr Bhembre said.
He also stated that this concept would bridge the islands of Konkani people located in four states, and unite these people —irrespective of the scripts of the language — by a common bond, for the greater interest of the language. This imaginary cultural state would result in the prosperity of the Konkani language, Mr Bhembre added.
He informed that another seminar at the literary conference titled ‘Use and Spread of Konkani Language through the Medium of Information Technology’ would demonstrate the machine-aided translation technology, currently being developed by the computer department of the Goa University, in collaboration with some Konkani institutions.
The technique developed with the help from the ministry of information technology will help in computer supported translations of material from other languages into Konkani, he informed. Speaking further, Mr Bhembre said that such techniques are developed for 22 Indian languages recognised by the Constitution, through a nationwide exercise.
He also said that the universal language networking project of the United Nations would help the Konkani language in making its presence felt on the global level. “This project is intended towards keeping alive various languages against the onslaught of English, and in turn, preserve different cultures and their diversity,” Mr Bhembre noted.
The president of the reception committee, Mr Shantaram Naik, speaking on the occasion said that the utilisation of information technology in promoting Konkani language would go a long way. “For example,” he said, “the Konkani literature could be exchanged through Internet, there can be debate on the same through e-mails and more importantly, the writers and poets can create their works and edit the drafts of these works on the computer itself, finally giving a CD of the same to the publishers; the entire exercise will save precious time and money of the writers or poets.”
Another session titled ‘Konkani Education and its Pragmatic Use’, Mr Naik said, would inform the people about the benefits of learning Konkani at primary level, as those doing so would be at the advantage during their recruitment in government services.
“A Clause in the government recruitment rules which mentions that the knowledge of Konkani is essential for the candidates, will also be discussed,” he pointed out.
The other sessions at the literary conference include ‘The traditional occupations of the Konkani people and their politics, economics and socialism’ and ‘Non-Konkani people and their Konkanisation’, it was informed.
The event will also witness a poets meet, discussion participated by Varsha Usgaonkar, Rose Ferns and Prasad Lolienkar, and a documentary on life and times of noted Konkani poet, Dr Manoharrai Sardesai, beside cultural programmes.
The president of the national organising committee, Dr Tanaji Halarnkar, said that around 600 delegates from outside the state will be arriving for the event and adequate arrangements have been made.
Replying to a question about the call given by the Dalgado Konknni Akademi (DKA) to boycott the literary conference in support of its demand to give an equal status to Roman Konkani, Dr Halarnkar said that there is no time to discuss these matters at such a crucial juncture.
“However, the parishad will meet after the event and discuss the demands of the DKA and furthermore, arrive at solution by the first week of March,” he informed, adding that the parishad would also review its working.
Dr Halarnkar hoped that there would be no adverse effect of the boycott call given by the DKA, on the literary event.
The secretary of the parishad, Mr Gokuldas Prabhu was also present on the occasion.
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