Konkani Academy awards presented in Udupi

DHNS

Udupi, 30 March 2010: Home Minister Dr V S Acharya has maintained that there is no problem in the State regarding linguistic issues.

Speaking after conferring Karnataka Konkani Sahithya Academy awards 2009, he said “government has been giving support to the regional languages. The Government had even given permission to hold Marati convention Belgaum recently. Hence language bonds are not affected in the state.”

Konkani speaking people have made lot of contributions the society in the field of banking and education.

The Government will respond positively to any suggestions given by Konkani Sahithya Academy.

“The language which is not used for study purpose will become extinct. Konkani has been introduced in the state as optional language from sixth standard from 2007.
Tulu will be taught as optional language in schools from the academic year.

Richard Castelino said “government should support regional language movies just like it supports Kannada film industry.”

Award winners

The award winners are Vasudev Vaman Shenoy (Konkani language), Litterateur Valerian D’Souza (Konkani literature) and theatre personality Richard Castelino (Konkani art). The award carried a cash prize of Rs 10,000, citation and shawl.

Winners of the Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy Book Awards 2009 Cyril J Sequiera for his Konkani book ‘Sulsule’ and M P Rodrigues for his poetry ‘Rumdi Phulam’ were honoured with Rs 5,000, shawl and citation.

Swimmer Nagendra Kharvi was honoured with special academy award.

Konkani musical concert by Jayasri Kamath, Kasturi Kamath, Shashikala Pai and Puttur Panduranga Nayak was held on the occasion.  Karnataka Konkani Sahithya Academy President Narayana Kharvi, MLA Raghupathy Bhat, CMC President Dinakar Shetty, Registrar Shivarudrappa, and others were present.