Mangaluru: Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore on January 13 felicitated the eight-member team that toured various districts to campaign for ‘Konkani Lokotsav – 2017, which is scheduled to be held in Mangaluru from February 10 to 12.
Team members Sandeep Monteiro, Santhosh Shenoy, Prakash Naik, Sunil D’Souza, Roshan Fernandes, James D’Souza, Jerome D’Souza and George D’Souza, who are on a campaign trail in Udupi, Uttar Kannada, Hubballi, Belagavi, Shivamogga, Chikkamagalur, Kasaragod, Bengaluru, Mysuru and Kodagu were honoured at the Bishop’s House.
The Bishop said Konkani language needs to be promoted well to make it more popular, reported The Times of India.
“Though many communities speak Konkani as a mother tongue, use of the language is to some extent limited to their families. We need to promote the language through campaigns and programmes. Promotion of Konkani is necessary to get due recognition for it,” he said lauding the efforts of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy, which is organizing Konkani Lokotsav.
Academy chairman Ronald S A Castelino said Konkani, which has been recognized under the Schedule VIII of the Constitution, is a very influential language in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
In Karnataka, nearly 41 communities have been using Konkani as mother tongue. To project the Konkani culture of unity in diversity, Konkani Lokotsav 2017, a national level Konkani literary – cultural festival is being organized in Mangaluru. It will be a convention of 41 Konkani speaking communities that will showcase various cultural, traditional and literary programmes, he said.
While the first day of the festival will be reserved for women and children, second and third days will have programmes for youth and other Konkani speaking community members, he said adding that eminent personalities will honour achievers during the programme.