PANJIM: After 15 years, the Saraswat community from across the country will congregate in Goa the coming January to discuss various issues concerning them.
The two-day conference, which is expected to bring Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and her father badminton player Prakash Padukone, will put forth the idea of strengthening the health and education sectors in the State, by setting up professional colleges.
Dinesh Sinari, the convener of the event, said various ideas would be thrown open, especially on setting up of a medical college and hospital and professional colleges for Goan students, specially from the general category, who due to various reasons, including reservation quota, are unable to get seats in government professional colleges.
“There are large chunks of land available with the temple committees, which can be utilised for setting up such institutions, which will be open for all,” he said.
The conference is being organized by the All India Saraswat Cultural Organization (AISCO) along with Goa Saraswat Samaj and Tiswadi Saraswat Samaj on January 23 and 24, next year.
Sinari said the Saraswat community is spread all over the country, from Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra to Karnataka. “The conference is an attempt to get the community members under one roof and discuss and deliberate on various issues related to them,” he said, adding that the conference is happening after almost 15 years. It was last held in Mangalore in 1999.
The conference will have prominent educationists, successful people addressing, along with Swamis from various Hindu institutions. Marathi movie stars Ashok Saraf, Sachin Pilgaonkar and Dilip Prabhavalkar will also attend the conference. The conference is expected to have nearly 3,500 delegates from the across the country.
