Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Aug 26: Chairman of Manipal Global Education and former director of Infosys Technologies T V Mohandas Pai, has sought for the implementation of a system whereby linguistic minorities are able to avail of all the government facilities for which religious minorities are eligible.

He was addressing a press meet after a function organized at World Konkani Centre here for distribution of tenth year's student scholarships on Sunday August 25. He pointed out that rights of religious and linguistic minorities have been explained in articles No. 29 and 30 of Indian Constitution. He accused successive governments of extending facilities to religious minorities alone since the last 70 years to the detriment of linguistic minorities.

He attracted the attention of the concerned to the fact that several communities including Hindus, Muslims and Christians speak Konkani. He noted that a number of facilities are extended to Muslims and Christians on the basis of their status as religious minorities. Kharvis and Kudubis get facilities under another department, but GSB community is devoid of any such facilities, he argued.

Pai said that there are only 20 lac people in GSB community. He said that a letter had earlier been written to the government, urging it to consider them as religious minority and extend different facilities to them. As there has not been any response, a letter would again be addressed to the government by way of reminder, he revealed.