On 26th March, 2008 the Minister for Finance , Government of Goa, Mr Dayanand G
Narvekar placed his Government's 178 point budget proposals for 2008-09 before
the august House of the Goa Legislative Assembly.
It turned out to be a landmark budget proposal, a fact every Goan has
discreetly commended for it was the first time that the Finance Minister made a
well studied presentation of the same reflecting almost every segment of the
society and above all asked for the views of the public before preparing and
presenting the budget 2008-09.
Yet an another remarkable achievement as reflected in the proposals was that
Mr Narvekar himself who earlier as the Deputy CM holidng the Planning
portfolio had convinced the Central Government about the injustice being meted
out to Goa in devolution of central grants though the State though Goa has been
making significant contribution in the form of central taxes and foreign
exchange earnings from different sectors.
Currently in his present avtar as the Minister for Finance Govt of Goa he made
a power point presentation to the Hon'ble Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and
Union Finance Minister Mr P C Chidambaran and as a result of his singular and
dedicated efforts he managed to get for the first time post Liberation central
assistance of Rs.2000 crores; to the State.
But this was not the only achievement; and Mr. Narvekar will certainly go down
in history as the only Minister for Finance who boldly admitted and I quoted
in the text of the Budget proposals 2008-09 ---" Language development Speaker
Sir; I believe that the type of scripts should not become a barrier for
language develpment. Though Konkani is the State language of Goa it is spoken
and also written in many parts of the country. The Konkani language has
significant presence mainly in the coastal belt along the Arabian coast from
Mumbai to thiruvananthapuram. For instance, in Karnataka it is written in both
Kannada and English script (Roman- emphasis mine). My Government is committed
to develop Konkani language by supporting the Institutions working for the
promotion of this language.... "
It is therefore for the first time after the Official Languages Act, 1987 was
pased on 4th February, 1987 that Government indeed admitted that the type of
scripts should not become a barrier for language develpment.
With this in mind despite the Goa Konkani Academy receiving grants for the
promotion of Konkani in devanagari script the Government went ahead to make a
separate provision of Rs.15 lacs to the Dalgado Konkani Academy presently
working for the cause of promotion of Konkani language in Roman script and who
had requested for the financial assistance to undertake various language
development activities.
The corollary to this development is obvious. After the last two years that
the protoganists of Konkani in Roman script, have been spearheading the demand
for official recognition to Konkani in Roman script the Government has awoken
and realised that the diversity in script was the root cause of the non
acceptance of the Official language Act 1987 by mainly the minority community.
Therefore this year when the Finance Minister Mr Dayanand Narvekar constituted
for the first time the adhoc committees to review the budgetary proposals under
each head in two sittings one in May and now in June 2008 wherein the public
were provided an opportunity along with the MLA's to sit in the Goa Legislative
Assembly Secretariat and offer suggestions on the budgetary proposals in the
presence of the Heads of Departments, Secretary Under secretary etc the
undermentioned protoganists demanding recognition to Konkani in Roman script
made a presentation before the Demands related to ad-hoc committee on Law. The
Chairman was Mr Manohar Parrikar, the other members present were Mr Francis D
Souza MLA Mapusa, Mr Damu Naik MLA Fatorda
Dr.( Fr ) Pratap Naik sj of TSKK
Mr Wilson Mazarelo Convenor Romi Lipi Action Front
and the undersigned.
The gist of the presentation was that now the government has recognised the
diversity in script it should now in the forthcoming session delete the
words in the Official Languages Act viz; Konkani --means written in
Devanagari script for this is the main reason why the Konkani agitation
received world wide support and not for the recognition of only devanagari
script.
This writer also highlighted a little known document obtained from the Sahitya
Akademy in New Delhi that it was the Advisory Committee which on 21st November,
1981 unanimously passed a resolition that the natural script for Konkani would
be Devanagari. This the writer mentioned to the Committee was an arbitary
decision taken by the 10 member committee most of whom were protoganists of
Konkani in devanagari and did not have the ratification of State Governments
through Cabinet decisions on behalf of the Konkani speaking people of the
respective States viz Karnataka Maharashtra Kerala or Goa Daman and Diu.
It is therefore for the first time that the protoganists of Konkani in Roman
script got the opportunity to place their views before the august house and
record for posterity the justful demands of a community which was betrayed by
just 3% of the population supporting Konkani in devanagari script for their own
well being and to relegate the large minority community to second class
citizens.
It is hoped that during the forthcoming session of the Goa Legislative Assembly
the lovers of Konkani in Roman script will compel their elected representatives
to table the bill seeking an amendment to delete the provision which restricts
the script solely to devanagari.
The Finance Minister needs to be commended for his bold gesture.
GODFREY J. I. GONSALVES,
BORDA, MARGAO, 403 602, GOA. (INDIA)
+91 98221 58584 (24 HRS)
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