The Hindu
 
Udupi July 6: The All India Konkani Parishat and Dr. T.M.A. Foundation, Manipal, will jointly celebrate the Parishat’s foundation-day at the Nutan Ravindra Mantap here on July 8.

Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, general secretary of the parishat Gokuldas Prabhu said all former presidents of the parishat including the Chairman of the Prasar Bharati M.V. Kamath and presidents of the past Konkani literary conferences and Konkani writers who won awards from Sahitya Akademi and Dr. TMA Pai Foundation, will be felicitated at the function. Intellectuals will deliberate on the future programmes of the Parishat in the afternoon session on that day, he added.

The parishat had held its first session at Karwar on July 8 and 9, 1939. It had met at Udupi in 1940. Mumbai became the venue of the subsequent sessions until Goa was liberated in 1961.
Activities intensified

The activities of the parishat intensified the Konkani movement with post-liberation Goa as its centre, Mr. Prabhu said.

These activities had a cascading effect on the Konkani movement across the country. As a result the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, conferred the status of official language on Konkani in Goa, he said. The movement spurred by the parishat attained its important objective when the language was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Official language

The awareness created by the parishat had a corollary effect in Karnataka, when the Government set up the Konkani Sahitya Akademi in 1993, and recently the State Government has issued orders to teach Konkani as an optional language in schools from sixth standard.

The parishat has held 25 national sessions and 18 literary meets in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. Through these sessions, the parishat has brought together the Konkani speaking people residing in various parts of the country and has striven for the development of the language, literature and culture.

The parishat holds its foundation-day on July 8, every year. President of TMA Pai Foundation K.K. Pai would deliver the keynote address at this year’s foundation day, while the Episcopal Vicar of Udupi district Baptist Menezes, would be the chief guest, Mr. Prabhu said.

President of the parishat Paul Moras and former president Basti Vaman Shenoy were present.