Mangalore: World Konkani Centre Distributes Scholarships Worth Two Crores; Raise Aspiration Levels – Mohandas Pai Tells Students

Pics by Sphoorthy Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Aug 25: Scholarships worth Rs. 2 crores from Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund (VKSSF) were distributed to about 1300 Engineering and MBBS students of different Konkani communities studying in various academic disciplines at the award ceremony held at T V Raman Pai Convention Hall, today. This is the third continuous year of the distribution of VKSSF scholarship carried out under the aegis of World Konkani Centre.

Scholarships were awarded symbolically to some students by Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, MP Oscar Fernandes, T V Mohandas Pai, Rohan Monteiro, U Ramdas Kamath, Ramdas Kini and K B Kharvi.

In his keynote address at the scholarship award ceremony, T V Mohandas Pai, the main inspiration behind the institution of these awards, gave a clarion call to the students to raise their aspirations and be prepared to compete with the best in the world. “We Indians suffer from aspiration deficiency which is our undoing.  Our students have to aspire to be the best and success can be achieved only through passion, energy and aspiration. Your biggest challenge is you, challenge yourself and be optimistic. Don’t be satisfied only with a graduation degree. You have a long life ahead and this education you get will last for your lifetime”, he told the students.

He further said that in today’s information age the same information is available to all the 7 billion population of this world through various mass media including internet. “But how best we are making use of this available information to solve various problems or to make a difference to the society in general, is important. Our students should develop the problem solving attitude to become successful”, he stated.

Stressing on the importance of improving the communication skills in today’s age of mass media dominance he suggested that students should read a lot which in turn would help them improve their interpersonal and communication skills. He said “today we have lot of information on hand. Our ability to succeed depends on how we use this information to solve our difficulties and problems. Merely having information is useless unless students cultivate problem solving attitude in them”. He called upon the Konkani community irrespective of caste, creed and religion to emerge as a politically, economically and globally strong community in the next 20 years and said the scholarship is just a conduit to reach that goal. Giving the example of Jewish community he said that the small Jewish community is able to control the entire world only because of their excellence in education.

He pointed out that language is just a thread that unites all Konkani speaking people. Konkani is our identity and we get culture through language. Transmission of this culture can be done only through language and therefore it is necessary to preserve our culture and language. He also emphasized that education should equip students to become competitive and capable of working and living in any part of the globe.

Highlighting the importance of being compassionate Mohandas Pai stated that society will respect a person for the good he has done to others and not for his richness or achievements. He called upon the people to be sensitive and compassionate towards those who are less privileged.

Mohandas Pai thanked the scholars saying by accepting the scholarship they have done a favor to them and not the other way round.

In his presidential address Konkani Sardar Basti Vaman Shenoy, who is also the President of World Konkani Centre stated that the main aim of providing the scholarship to students is to help the students face life in a better way once they complete their education. He said he is happy that he has been able to do something for the students through the World Konkani Centre by implementing the vision of T V Mohandas Pai. He stressed on the importance of integrity in our lives and said “VKSSF is a team work and the result of commitment and desire to something for the society in return. To make Mohandas Pai’s vision a reality we must work unitedly towards becoming a strong community”.

Chief Minister Gagadeesh Shettar who made a brief stopover at the scholarship award ceremony despite his tight schedule in his message appreciated the initiative of WKC and stated that the scholarship would enable students to come forward in life.

Oscan Fernandes who formally inaugurated the scholarship award distribution ceremony by lighting the traditional lamp, stated that it is the responsibility of the society to support our talented students. He made a commitment to do his best towards the scholarship cause undertaken by WKC.

Guest of Honor K B Kharvi expressed his gratitude to the inspiration provided by visionaries like Mohandas Pai and Ramdas Kamath saying the help they have rendered to the Kharvi community to come up in life has electrified the entire Kharvi community. He said due to their efforts the number of Kharvi students receiving scholarship has raised from 1 and 2 in the first two years to 7 this year due to the inspiration provided by them.

In his message Ramdas Kamath U, Chairman of VKSSF said that VKSSF has taken a new initiative from the current academic year in the form of starting Career Development Programme and Higher Studies programme. He also said an entrepreneurial development programme will be stated which will have a business plan contest for youngsters to know and understand their wide ideas about business.

Speaking at the function Rohan Monteiro, who is one of the contributors to the VKSSF, promised his full support for the scholarship in future and thanked WKS for giving him an opportunity to be a part of this noble cause.

Speaking on behalf of the scholars Royal Denzil Sequeira and Ankita Prakash Pai gave their feedback saying the scholarship and training they received at the various camps conducted by WKC as part of the scholarship has enabled them to excel in their curricular and co-curricular activities.

Along with Chief Minister Jagadeesh Shetty, MLA and Dy Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly N Yogish Bhat, District-in-charge Minister C T Ravi, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and MLC Ganesh Karnik also made a brief appearance on the stage.

Earlier, the programme began with a prayer song by the students of Canara PU College. VKSSF Chairman and philanthropist Ramdas Kamath U welcomed the gathering. Secretary of VKSSF Pradeep Pai presented the vote of thanks. The programme was compered by Mahesh Nayak.