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2005 Sahitya Akademi Award to Konkani: unethical procedure 2005 award of Sahitya Akademi for outstanding contribution to Konkani literature was declared to Mr. N. Shivdas for his Konkani collection of stories 'Bhangarsal'. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 50,000/-. Konkani community and writers are totally surprised that Sahitya Akademi has decided to give this award to Mr. N. Shivdas, who is a member of the Advisory Board of the Sahitya Akademi! Once again a few among those who promote Konkani in Devanagari script are exposed as cunning manipulators and swindlers. But in the society they are considered as thinkers, writers, poets, artists and so on. To select a book for the award a procedure is followed by the Sahitya Akademi. In this procedure the Advisory Board of each language is involved. Advisory board of Konkani language consists of 10 members and Mr. N. Shivdas is one of the members of Advisory Board for the years 2003-2007. How a member of Advisory Board can be nominated for the award? Is this act justified? Is it based on sound reasoning and ethical code? These questions are hotly discussed these days among Konkanis. The role of the advisory Board to select a book for the award is evident from the following terms and conditions of Sahitya Akademi for the year 2003 -2007. PREPARATION OF THE GROUND LIST AND OBTAINING RECOMMENDATIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE LANGUAGE ADVISORY BOARD: 01. The Akademi shall have every year a ground list prepared of eligible books of each recognized language. Preparation of the ground list shall be entrusted to an expert or, at the discretion of the President, to two experts. 02. Each language Advisory Board member shall send a panel of not more than five names and the President of the Akademi shall choose the expert or experts out of this panel. 03. In preparing the ground list, the expert or experts shall strictly conform to the criteria of eligibility laid down in these rules. The ground list so prepared along with the ground list of the previous years shall be send to all the members of the concerned language Advisory Board (including the Convener) with the request to recommend, by such date as may be specified by the Akademi, two titles each. THE PRELIMINARY PANEL AND ITS FUNCTIONS: 01. The Preliminary panel shall consist of ten Referees. These Referees shall be nominated by the President after considering suggestions of the members of the Language Advisory Board concerned. 02. The recommendations received from members of the Language Advisory Board shall be compiled and sent to each referee. THE JURY AND ITS FUNCTION: 1. The recommendations of Referees in the Preliminary Panel shall be considered by three-member Jury. The jury members shall be selected by the President after considering the recommendations in this behalf by the members of the Language Advisory Board concerned. >From this procedure it is evident that the Advisory Board of a language plays the key role to select a book for the annual award. In this background it is utterly unreasonable and unethical on the part of the Sahitya Akademi to give its award to a member of its advisory Board. Hence the sahitya akademi should immediately withdraw its 2005 award for Konkani. Pratap Naik, S.J. THOMAS STEPHENS KONKNNI KENDR B. B. Borkar Road, Alto Porvorim Goa - 403 521, INDIA. (0832) 2415857, 2415864 e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED] website:www.tskk.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
