The Global Konkani Forum (GKF) reportedly urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to introduce a Bill to amend the Official Language Act to give Romi Konkani equal status as that of Devanagri script. This according to the forum will end the injustice that has continued for 36 years to Romi Konkani. There is also a demand to ensure equal financial support for the Roman script and that Konkani in Roman script be taught in schools from class I to XII. Be that as it may, it is pertinent to note that Konkani in the Roman script is also used in tiatr.
It is alleged that as a result of the recognition of only the Devanagari script, the rich body of Konkani literature written in the Roman script went unrecognized, unrewarded and not promoted. Incidentally Konkani is today written in Devanagari, Roman, Kannada and Malayalam scripts. According to history Romi Konkani’s roots in Goa are deeper than one may expect, leading all the way back to the early Portuguese colonial period in the mid-16th century. Even though Romi Konkani is widely used by tens of thousands of Goans, it is not recognized by law.
Incidentally, Romi Konkani takes numerous cues from the spelling system of Portuguese. The Catholic Church’s Fourth Provincial Council of Goa in 1592 decreed that the Christian doctrine be translated in local languages, so as to reach the common person. As a result, Konkani was being used as a vehicle for the dissemination of the teachings of Christianity on a much larger scale. The usage of Romi Konkani was seen as representative of the Goan Catholic identity. For Goa’s Catholics, who were educated in Portuguese and in English, it was only natural that they would choose to write their own language in the very same script they had already read and written. It is high time both Romi and Devanagri scripts are given equal status as they are like twin siblings of Mai Bhas Konkani.
