Team Herald
MARGAO: The Global Romi Lipi Abhiyan (GRLA) has firmly stated that the 'One Language, One Script' policy of the Sahitya Akademi and the Goa Government, which has chosen Devanagari as the sole official script for Konkani, has been a complete failure.
This policy has contributed to the downfall of the Konkani language and its diverse scripts, they opine. Despite being taught in schools for the past 38 years and the government spending crores of rupees to promote Devanagari, it has failed to gain acceptance among Konkani-speaking people, said Kennedy Afonso, President GRLA.
He further said that on the other hand, the Roman script, which is not being taught in schools, continues to thrive across all communities, especially among the youth.
Afonso said, recently, Datta Naik, an eminent businessman and former president of the All India Konkani Parishad, publicly declared that the "One Script" policy has been a total failure. Recent statistics show that the number of Konkani-speaking people has dwindled by over 2 lakh since the last census in 2001. The inclusion of Konkani on the UNESCO list of endangered languages further underscores the negative consequences of the policy.
Studies further highlight the following limitations of this policy. By promoting a single script in schools, the policy has limited the use and development of other scripts, especially the Roman script, which holds cultural significance for the Konkani-speaking community. This has hampered the growth
of Konkani in its full
diversity.