PANAJI
Konkani may be the official language and the use of Marathi permitted for all official purposes in the State’s Official Language Act, but neither of these languages featured as a medium of communication at a recent workshop held for manufacturers and traders in Panaji by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) where Kannada was used.
Earlier last week, the workshop on quality of goods and standards was conducted for traders as well as consumers from the Goa region by the BIS office at Hubballi jointly with the Goa government’s Civil Supplies, Industries and the Legal Metrology Departments at a city hotel.
Literature related to quality standards and the ISI mark for products distributed at the workshop was multilingual, in English, Hindi and to everyone’s surprise, in Kannada as well.
There were no versions of the informative pamphlets in Konkani or Marathi much to the chagrin of attendees.
The workshop also dealt with issues related to BIS hallmarks for gold products and jewellery and attendees were distributed leaflets containing informative literature in English/Hindi and also in Kannada. There were, however, no leaflets in either Konkani or Marathi.
Central government departments and agencies conventionally also use the official language of the State where they conduct any programme.
The event in question was a closed door affair with attendees participating only by invite. According to one of the participants, the issue of safety helmets for two-wheeler riders with fake ISI marks in the market was hotly debated.
He said, the BIS officials and other State government officers present there were told to conduct field (market) inspections more frequently to check the circulation of such fake safety helmets.
“An unsuspecting two-wheeler rider buys the helmet with an ISI mark. However with the product being fake, the rider becomes a victim of a false sense of safety which could potentially be a risk to his life,” the representative of civic consumer forum from a South Goa village said.
