This story is from February 7, 2016

Konkani script row may now reach Supreme Court

Peeved with High Court’s verdict of making ‘Devanagari’ script compulsory for granting akademi awards, a section of Konkani activists and writers from Karavali region are planning to move the Apex Court.
Konkani script row may now reach Supreme Court
MANGALURU: Peeved with high court’s verdict of making ‘Devanagari’ script compulsory for granting akademi awards, a section of Konkani activists and writers from Karavali region are planning to move the Apex Court.
On February 1, the high court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to the Sahitya Akademi to consider Konkani books written in four other scripts — Kannada, Roman (English), Arabic and Malayalam — other than the recognized Devanagari script while granting Akademi awards.
PIL (35120/2011) was filed by Eric Ozario, full-time cultural activist, and writers Vally Vaga and Machha Milar in 2011. The petitioners had alleged injustice to Konkani writers in Kannada and other scripts as Devanagari is recognised as the script for the language. They also sought recognition for all five scripts for funding and research in Konkani under the Akademi.
After five years of hearing from both sides, the court passed the order after being informed that the Akademi has been considering Konkani books written in other scripts, but are also available in Devanagari script, and three such Kannada books had received Akademi awards.
Eric Ozario told STOI that they are not happy with the judgement and will appeal to the Supreme Court. “I have read about it in the newspapers and after receiving the judgement copy, we will think of approaching the Apex Court,” he said adding that “fight will continue”.
Ronald S A Castelino (Roy), chairman of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy, said there is lot of Konkani literature in other scripts (like Kannada, Roman (English), Arabic and Malayalam) and considering only ‘Devanagari’ to akademi awards is injustice to writers. “We will continue to air our voice against making a single language mandatory for awards,” he added.
Ravindranath Kamath, advocate, who was respondent for Konkani Sahitya Parishad, Goa pointed out three writers J B Moraes (1985), J B Sequeira (1988) and Melvin Rodrigues (2011) have bagged awards for writing their works in ‘Devanagari’. “Akademi has officially considered only Devanagari for awards. If Konkani works in various scripts are to be considered, it needs a lot of human force for scrutinization of entries.”
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Kevin Mendonsa

He has over a decade of experience in writing, reporting, and editing for print media. He is working with The Times of India as a senior correspondent (senior digital content creator) from 2015. He covers education, crime, aviation, lifestyle and other subjects.

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