from Vinay Pais      
for Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SM)

Kundapur, Aug 21: Konkani language today is not merely confined to the coastal area of Karnataka. It is being spoken by a large section of people in India. As it is a well developed and an independent language, Konkani is given the constitutional status. The government of Karnataka has been doing its best, to accord a literary status to it among the other minority languages. 

But a word of caution was given out by the honorable minister Dr VS Acharya saying that all the linguistic minorities were likely to lose the benefits and the privileges now available to them by virtue of their categorization as linguistic minorities when and if the language Konkani was given the official status just for the sake of superior status. 

Dr VS Acharya was speaking on the occasion of celebrating the state-level Konkani conference, as a chief guest. He advised them to opt for Devnagari script in the interest of the nation and also for the unity of the fourteen different dialects.

The ultimate deciding factor was the consensus to be arrived at by the minorities themselves and the government was there to grant its final stamp of approval.