22 Oct 2020  |   04:52am IST

Reconnecting Goa" - Virtual Celebration of World Goa Day's 20th Anniversary

Even COVID does not halt tje journey of connecting Goans across the world continues. The 20th anniversary of the World Goa day will only be celebrated virtually without taking anything away from its essence. The pandemic prevented any celebrations on August 20 which is the day when Konkani getting the status of an official Indian language in Parliament. It will now benobservedvon October 24 this year.

Frsnkey Fernandes

It was two decades ago, when Rene Barretto (85) attempted to reach out to Goan community associations worldwide by organising the “World Goa Day” (WGD) along with a handful of other passionate Goans on 20 August 2000. 

The WGD was instituted to mark the anniversary of that momentous day, 20 August 1992, when the Indian Parliament formally accorded Konkani with the status of a national language in India, through the 71st Amendment to the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. 

It was a milestone for “Amchi Maim Bhas”, our mother tongue, when Konkani finally got its due recognition nationally, apart from having been Goa’s official state language since January 4, 1987.

The World Goa Day is intended as a day for Goans worldwide to reflect upon on their identity and take pride in celebrating their unique heritage and culture, language, traditions, music, cuisine, and more. Its primary objective was and is to unite Goans living all over the world, in a day of common union celebrating their oneness in a show of solidarity with their Goan fraternity in Goa.

The WGD concept has increasingly grown over the past years with over 30 Goan community organisations and associations from all parts of the world, organising the event in their respective local communities with one commonly celebrated ‘”theme”. 

The theme during the past three years were, “Ghumott – the Heartbeat of Goans beating aloud Worldwide” (2017), “Amchi Mati Amchi Maim Bhas”(2018) and “Amchi Bhurgim Amcho Fuddar” in 2019. 

This year with restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the working group volunteers of the Global Goan Alliance & Network forum, inspired by WGD founder Rene Barretto, have collaborated and engaged with diverse individuals and Goan community associations spanning across the wide range of global time zones, to showcase a Virtual Celebration of World Goa Day on during this 20th anniversary year with “Reconnecting Goa” being this year’s common theme.