Konkani writers resolve to form all-India forum at JKS conference
http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=192381
Mangalore, Oct 1: Jagotik Konknni Songhotton (JKS) organized an All-India Konkani Writers’
Conference on Sunday, September 29 at Kalaangann.
As many as 78 Konkani writers from Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra and various regions of
Karnataka, attended the conference.
The conference was organized with the intention of bringing together writers of all the
five scripts of Konkani and also to probe the possibilities of forming an All-India
Konkani Writers’ Forum.
Roy Castelino, treasurer, JKS, welcomed the gathering. The secretary general of JKS, Eric
Ozario, explained the purpose of the conference and the need for forming an All-India
Konkani Writers’ Forum. Tomazinho Cardozo, ex-speaker of the Goa Assembly and president,
JKS, spoke about the injustices done to writers in the Roman script.
Dr Pratap Naik, Konkani activist, spoke of the progress in the writ petition filed in the
Goa bench of the Mumbai high court, seeking rectification of the Official Language Act of
Goa, to include the Roman script.
Valerian D’Souza, Marcel D’souza and Eric Ozario explained the progress in the writ
petition filed in the high court of Karnataka against the Sahitya Akademi, seeking equal
treatment to all scripts of Konkani.
Nitika Tandon, programme manager, The Centre for Internet & Society, spoke about
Konkani Wikipedia and the need for the participation of the Roman and the Kannada script
writers.
The conference resolved to form an All-India Konkani Writers’ Forum, which would protect
the interest of Konkani literature and Konkani writers of all scripts. An ad-hoc committee
was formed to discuss and decide upon the immediate steps to be taken towards the
formation of the Forum.
A book compiling short stories written by Kevin D’Mello, Karkala, titled ‘Chondda ani
Gorbh’, was also released on the occasion.
Victor Mathias conducted the proceedings of the conference.
Thanks
Nitika