22 Oct 2017 | 05:23am IST
No winners this year, not even Konkani
The state government has declared the process of granting 32 Goa Konkani Akademi Awards as ‘null and void’. Café speaks to a few members of the Konkani fraternity and gets to know what this means for Konkani literature
In what is being called by many as a
blow to Konkani literature and arts, the
Goa Konkani Akademi literary awards
will not be granted this year as the state
government on Friday declared the entire
process as null and void. The reason stated
for this, contrary to popular opinion, is out
of conflict of interest among some jury
members, and not over the controversy
surrounding MLA and poet Vishnu Wagh’s
controversial book of poems ‘Sudir Sukta’.
Celebrated Konkani author and poet
Damodar Mauzo says, “At least for the last
three years, no awards have been given.
The Goa Konkani Akademi, as I understand,
was falling short of funds to make the
expenditure of having the award function.
The government says that the awards
have been deemed null and void because
the proper procedure was not followed.
And even though the government may
have been scared about the controversy,
scrapping all 32 awards is unfair to the
poets and writers of Konkani language.”
While calling it demoralising for
budding writers and artistes, Mauzo says
that the awards are a source of motivation
for upcoming literary talent. Mauzo feels
that although the Akademi is government
funded, it is an autonomous body. He
says, “Decisions are taken by the Akademi
independently. It should not be the
government’s decision whether or not to
scrap the awards. They cannot victimise all
Konkani Bhasha Mandal has been
one of the more active organisations
working for the Konkani movement in
the state. Chetan Acharya, President of
Konkani Bhasha Mandal, says, “Awards
are a means of encouragement for the
writers and scrapping them will have the
exact opposite effect. It won’t harm the
Konkani movement as such but it will set
a bad precedent. Personally, I don’t think
the awards given to the book will raise
the quality of the book, and similarly, a
book that does not win awards cannot be
While the scrapping of awards
controversy surrounding Wagh’s book has
clearly hogged all the attention, its effect
on Konkani literature and the Konkani
movement is not being spoken about as
commonly. Anwesha Singbal, founder
of Abhinav Creationz that works for the
development of regional languages
mostly among kids, but more importantly
known as the true foot soldier working
tirelessly for the development of Konkani
in Goa, says, “The entire matter pertaining
their own selfish motives. Whether the
book gets an award or not would not
make any constructive or destructive
effect on the language. And hence many
like us have remained disconnected from
the same because we believe we need
to constructively work for the language.
Awards are just a by-product that comes
in the way, which can in no way decide
where the language is leading. This is no
Dnyaanpeeth award that is earned after
years of hardworking and perseverance.
So let the awards roll, the real soldiers
of Konkani will not waste time over such
mediocre issues fought for one’s selfish
