MARGAO
Demanding the setting up of the Goa State Minorities Commission at the earliest, the Global Romi Lipi Abhiyan stated that a commission can potentially help promote the Roman Script Konkani in several ways and resolve a host of other issues affecting the minorities in Goa.
GKLA President Kennedy Afonso said the Commission can provide a platform for the Roman Script Konkani writing community to voice their concerns and demands for official recognition.
“The Commission can address grievances related to the neglect or marginalisation of Roman Script Konkani. The Commission can advocate for the inclusion of Roman Script Konkani into the school curriculum. The Commission can advocate policies that recognise and promote Roman Script Konkani as a script used by minorities,” he said.
Afonso pointed out that the Union government had constituted a statutory body called the National Commission for Minorities in 1992 to safeguard the constitutional and legal rights of minorities. The Constitution provides that every state can set up a State Minority Commission, but so far it has not been established in Goa.
“Article 29(1) of the Indian Constitution stipulates that minorities have the right to protect their language, script, and culture. However, this constitutional right has been denied to the minorities of Goa for the last 36 years when, in 1987, the government decided to give recognition only to Devanagari in the Official Language Act and discarded the Roman Script, which is used by minorities in all walks of life. To make matters worse, Roman Script Konkani is not even allowed to be taught in schools, which has dented the progress of the Konkani language as a whole. If a Minorities Commission is set up in Goa, all these issues could be resolved,” he said.
He added: “In March 2012, the BJP government had promised the people in their election manifesto that a Minority Commission would be established. A Bill was introduced in the Assembly, but was deferred to a select committee, and has been languishing there for the last 12 years. Whenever a Bill is deferred to a select committee, it usually means the government is not serious about it. It’s time that the BJP government stops fooling the public and lives up to the promises made to the people of Goa.”
Saying the Congress government, which has governed the state mainly due to the secular votes of minorities, has also failed to constitute a GSMC to protect the interests of minorities, Afonso said, “Currently, there are more than 15 MLAs from the minority community in the Assembly, and it’s their duty as elected representatives of the minority community to demand and ensure that a GSMC is constituted at the earliest.”
