T V Mohandas Pai Lays Foundation for World Konkani Centre Hostel Block 

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (CN)

Mangalore, Oct 10: The foundation stone for the T Vimala Pai and T V Ramana Pai Hostel Block at World Konkani Centre in Shakthinagar here was laid by T V Mohandas Pai, director and head of Finacle, admin and HR, at Infosys Leadership Institute and Education and Research, on Sunday October 10.

The hostel is expected to be ready in a year and will help the residential faculty and also the faculty involved in academics and research.

Addressing the gathering, Pai said that the Konkani community being a small one needs to achieve greater heights in education by encouraging deprived children through scholarships. “No Konkani child shall be deprived of education because of lack of means”, he said. He said that providing education to children from poor economic backgrounds should be the vision of Konkani leaders.  

“The vision should also encompass the economic well-being of the community to reach the topmost level in the world. Supporting the deprived class by meeting their needs will work towards bringing them into the mainstream of the community”, Pai opined.  

“Training the youth through the mentorship programme will generate new leaders of the future”, he added. 

Stressing the need to unite all Konkani-speaking people, he said that social networking websites may help. “We have to overcome all the problems even if we are a community without roots, as our ancestors were prosecuted and suffered a lot to continue living”, noted Pai.

Basti Vaman Shenoy, president, Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation, said that the foundation is constantly striving to meet all the demands of the language and culture. “The foundation is more focused on the education of the community along with preserving Konkani culture, tradition, and language”, he added.

P Dayananda Pai, chairman, Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation, said that the various programmes organized by the Foundation were all for the development of the community and the Konkani-speaking people. “The involvement of donors will realize the dreams of the Foundation”, he added.

Five students who opted for Konkani language in school were honoured during the programme with books and school bags. A book on Jnanapeetha awardee Ravindra Kelekar was released at the programme. ‘Kshamatha’, an initiative to train the youth in employable skills was also launched on the occasion.

T Vimala Pai, donor, hostel block building, Ramadas Kamath, president, scholarship fund, Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation , Pradeep Pai, president, hostel block construction committee, and entrepreneur Raghunatha Shet were also present.