![]() ![]() ![]() A Study conducted in 2011 reveals that only 12.7%Konkanis in India use Devanagari script the remaining 87.3% use other scripts. Goa is divided between Roman and Devanagari. All Konkanis living in Karnataka read and write Konkani in the Kannada script. The truth is – According to the 2001 Census, of the total Konkanis in India, 31.82% Konkanis live in Goa. ‘Konkanis use only the Devanagari script and not Kannada or Malayalam’. The literary traditions of Konkani being that it is in 5 scripts, the Sahitya Akademi has no option but to recognize and support literature in all 5 scripts of Konkani. Not only that, in its reply to our Petition the Sahitya Akademi has admitted to the honourable High Court that – ‘ The mandate of the Sahitya Akademi is – fully to recognize and support the literary traditions of the given language”. The Constitution of the Sahitya Akademi is very clear as to the script issue – the Constitution of the Sahitya Akademi – clause 3, sub clause 9 (a) ‘To improve and develop the various scripts in which the languages of the country are written’.ī. ‘Any section of the citizen residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the same’Ī. (ii) Article 29 – Protection of interests of minorities – 1. (i) Article 14 – Equality before law – “the state shall not deny to any person equality before law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”. Articles 14 and 29 of the Constitution of India read as follows – ‘The Constitution has given prominence to the Devanagari script’ – totally untrue. If it is literature, then how can the Akademi pamper and patronize the literature in one script alone and completely ignore and disregard the literature in other scripts? The Question is whether the Sahitya Akademi’s mandate is to honour and support the ‘literature’ of a language or the ‘script’ of a language. (ii) Moreover, this is not a question of the ‘ Official script’. Such an assembly has never been convened in Konkani. (i) Who decides which is the official script of a language? Does Devanagari become the official script, just because the Devanagari lobby declares so? Such a decision has to be taken in a democratic process, at an assembly of representatives of all scripts. Jagotik Konkani Songhotton (JKS) condemns these statements and wishes to expose the truth – ![]() ‘If any script other than Devanagari is recognized, it will be detrimental to Konkani Langauage’. ‘Konkanis use only the Devanagari script and not Kannada or Malayalam’.Ĥ. ‘The Constitution has given prominence to the Devanagari script’.ģ. ‘Devanagari is the official script of Konkani’.Ģ. Together, they have issued a Press Statement (published on l2-6-2012) with false information.ġ. While the High Court is considering this Petition, the ‘ Karnataka State Konkani Linguistic Minorities Institutions’ have filed an application to implead them in the case and have pleaded to consider ‘only Devanagari for recognition’. 1 herein, to recognize all the 5 scripts of Konkani Language viz., Kannada, Roman (English), Devanagari, Arabic and Malayalam as eligible for grant of Awards, Research funding and all other incidental works, for which assistance is rendered by the Akademi’. The Writ Petition prays the High Court – ‘to issue a direction to the Sahitya Akademi, Respondent no. When innumerable pleas and countless representations against this gross injustice evoked no positive response, Eric Ozario and 2 others (Vally Vagga, Mysore and Marcel D’souza, Mangalore ), on behalf of all Konkanis, have approached the honourable High Court of Karnataka, with a Writ Petition – WP. Despite the fact that Devanagari is only the 3 rdmost prolific script (after Kannada and Roman), the Akademi has been squarely ignoring and neglecting Konkani literature in other scripts. Though Konkani is written in 5 different scripts, namely – Kannada, Roman, Devanagari, Perso-Arabic and Malayalam – the Sahitya Akademi (Central), since the very beginning, has been awarding Awards, Assignments and Projects only to the literature in the Devanagari script. Politically powerful Devanagari lobbyists have argued that the Central Sahitya Akademi has only recognised Konkani written in Devanagari. ![]()
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