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Disastrous Amendments to the Official Language Act
The well-planned strategy of Manohar Parrikar appears to have borne the desired
fruit. Five years after his drummer-boy created a ripple, in his very
presence, about injustice to Konkani in Roman script in the Official Language
Act, and all the hullabaloo that the serenaders created since then, he has now
quietly moved centre-stage to attach the Marathi language to the Roman script
wagon in the Goa Legislative Assembly. He has promised to cooperate with the
Government for amending the Act so as to include Konkani in Roman script as
well as Marathi as the Official languages of Goa. And the Romi Brigade is
quite upbeat about the prospect. What is envisaged is, however, nothing new;
the same was mooted at least twice by some wings of the Congress Party but,
each time, the proposals were quickly withdrawn. The first time round, Romi
Lipi Action Front organized a meeting in support at Grace Church Hall, Margao.
But Churchill Alemao threw a spanner in
the works by declaring, “Moratthi? Naka!” As a result, the President of
Marathi Rajbhasha Prasthapan Samiti, a regular fixture till then, stopped
attending their meetings.
Now, let us see what this proposed cooperation means for Goa. The resultant
changes in the Act will be as follows:
Subsection (c) of section 2 (Definitions) which today reads: "'Konkani
language' means Konkani language in Devanagari script," will become: " 'Konkani
language' means Konkani language in Devanagari and/or Roman scripts."
Subsection (1) of section 3 which today reads: " 'With effect from such date as
the Administrator may, by notification, appoint, Konkani language shall,
subject to the provisions contained in sections 34 and 35 of the Government of
Union Territories Act, 1963 (Central Act 20 of 1963), be the official language
for all or any of the official purposes and different dates may be appointed
for different official purposes," will become: "With effect from such date as
the Administrator may, by notification, appoint, Konkani and Marathi languages
shall, ……(subject to the provisions of the relevant sections of Acts as, and
if, applicable) …… be the official languages for all or any of the official
purposes and different dates may be appointed for different official purposes."
The following two paragraphs of this very subsection 3(1) will be deleted,
being redundant/irrelevant: "Provided that the Administrator may, by a like
notification, direct that in the case of Goa District the Marathi language and
in the case of Daman and Diu Districts, the Gujarati language, shall also be
used for all or any of the official purposes and different dates may be
appointed for different official purposes," and "Provided further that nothing
contained in this subsection shall be deemed to affect the use of the Marathi
and Gujarati languages in educational or cultural fields."
The following paragraph of the same subsection, like the rest of the Act, will
be retained: "Provided further that the Government shall not, in granting aid
to any educational or cultural institution, discriminate against such
institution only on the ground of language."
Very soon, as a result of this amendment, the state of Goa shall come to have
two official languages, Konkani and Marathi, on equal footing. Therefore, this
is the right time for the leaders of the Romi brigade, especially the Heads of
Romi Lipi Action Front, Romi Lipiechi Chollvoll, Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr
and Dalgado Konknni Akademi to come out openly and express their clear
unstinted support for this amendment, in toto. Lest we forget, the Tiatrists,
individually and collectively, too have been vociferous from the stage – and
CDs/ VCDs/ DVDs too – with their powerful songs, thereby keeping their audience
"informed and agitated" about their demand. They too must now express, through
their songs, their unreserved support to the amendments, as above, so that
their fans will get to appreciate their deep sympathy for the welfare of Goans,
especially the Catholics. Many members of the Catholic clergy had, through
their writings as well as
speeches and other acts, sided with the pro-amendment lobby; they too must
come out openly in favour of the amendments as envisaged above. The Church
hierarchy has generally remained aloof; so it would not be fair to demand that
it too declare its opinion now. But it would certainly help if it were to come
out at this juncture with a critical appraisal of the outcome of the amendment,
through an appropriate organ.
It is not unthinkable that some of the above bodies and individuals might now
have misgivings about the outcome of the proposed amendment. In which case,
let them state their reservations and suggest modifications which they would
find acceptable; and also indicate how they would ensure that their revised
formula will be passed by the Goa Legislative Assembly, given its current
arithmetic. After the deed is done, let them not say, just as the drummer-boy
is saying about the original Act, that they were misled by their leaders and
did not realise that this would be the outcome.
As for me, and the forum of Goan Catholics for Devanagari, the amendment will
be an unmitigated disaster for Goans, especially the Catholics. It will
nullify the gains of the historic Opinion Poll. It will lead to a de facto
merger of Goa with Maharashtra with all the attendant drawbacks and sans any
advantages. It will open the floodgates for Maharashtrians to compete for not
only Goa Government jobs but also for Central Services; given their better
standard and grasp of the Marathi language, even Hindu Goans will be no match
for them.
And this is no baseless fear as the same has already been happening in the
past. Until a few years ago, posts in the lower judiciary in Goa were
regularly cornered by candidates from Maharashtra until Goa Hit-Rakhan Manch
stepped in and said enough is enough. The Bombay High Court also came to our
rescue on the basis of the existing OLA. Once the above amendment is effected,
even the Court will be helpless.
The Department of Posts and Telegraphs, following its practice in other states,
stipulated that candidates from Goa must have offered Konkani as one of the
languages at the SSC examination, clearly an advantage for Catholic Goans.
But the Marathi Rajbhasha Prasthapan Samiti protested against this practice,
leading to the cancellation of the tests. Consequently, additional candidates
were selected from Ratnagari and Kolhapur Districts of Maharashtra to man the
Post offices in Goa.
Let Goans in general, and Catholics in particular, ponder over this matter and
act wisely before it is too late.
Sebastian Borges
[Herald, 12/10/08]
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