Guests and the award winners at the annual awards function of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal on Sunday.
Photo Credits: The Goan
MARGAO
Eminent Konkani writer Mahabaleshwar Sail on Sunday said that Konkani language is the identity of Goans, cautioning that people would "lose their identity and way of life" if they lose Konkani language.
Speaking at the annual awards function of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal held at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao on Sunday, Sail stressed on the need to focus on Konkani research. “There was hardly any Konkani literature. However, today Konkani is rich in literature and it is time we focus on Konkani research,” he said.
Expressing his fear that English might overpower regional languages, Sail said English should be kept as the language of the "stomach", adding that “Indian languages should be languages of our thought and should take the centre stage”.
Others present at the function were Usha Rane, President, All India Konkani Parishad, Sadanand Kanekar, Senior Konkani activist, Pradeep Da Costa, President, Verna Industrial Association, Prakash Kapadia, entrepreneur, Surendra Naik, Additional Collector - I, South Goa District.
The awards and recipients for 2021: The Konkani Bhasha Mandal Service Award was bagged by Suresh Pai, while the Serafino Cotta sponsored Felicio Cardozo Memorial Teacher Award went to Anant Agni.
Shirish Pai is the recipient of the Juje Piedade Quadros Memorial Activist Award, while Fr Kyriel De Souza is the recipient of the Ligorio Furtado Trust Award for Journalism. The Dinesh Manerkar sponsored Chandrakant Keni Memorial Award for Best Columnist/ Column Writing went to Mahesh Divekar. The Dinesh Manerkar sponsored Ramnath Manerkar Memorial Award for translation went to Pandurang Nadkarni (Book - Pakhatya Bagar Bhurr), while the Late Narsimha Damodar Naik Award for literature was bagged by Myron Jason Barreto (Book - Omparitlyan Sandesh - Collection of Essays).
The Late Rock Barreto Award for literature was bestowed on late Shridhar Kamat (Book - Besur - Collection of one act plays), while the Konkani Bhasha Mandal sponsored Ramesh Veluskar Memorial Award for literature was awarded to Vaman Takekar (Book - Darya Dhan - Novel).
The Manoharrai Sardesai Children’s Literature award was not conferred, while the late Padmaja Gaunekar Research Paper prize was given to Sakharam Borkar.
