The national Konkani film festival will be held in Mangalore in January, said Kasargod Chinna, president, Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy (KKSA).
He was speaking at “Aammi Konkani”, Lokved Sambram Janapadotsav, a three-day festival of Konkani language and culture organised by the KKSA in the city on Thursday. Various activities had been organised to take Konkani to the masses. A Konkani website would be inaugurated in December by journalist M.V. Kamath, he said.
The academy had organised activities to popularise the language and its music and cuisine through “Madhura Konkani”, “Ghar gha abhiyan,” “Konkani Sthree”, and “Konkani Jhankaar”.
Aloysius P. D’Souza, Bishop of Mangalore and guest of honour, said: “Konkani is our language and we have to keep it safe.” The Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy should help in encouraging the language, he said.
The former Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda said that small languages add to a larger whole.
They had their own identities and there were lifestyles and schools of thought associated with each of them. All cultures, traditions, and languages should be saved, he said.
Abhaychandra Jain, MLA, Moodbidri, said that Konkani-speaking people had contributed in all fields across the world. The community had especially contributed to the establishment of banks, in the field of hospitals and healthcare, and education, he said.
A procession of folk artistes moved from Jyothi Circle to the Town Hall before the programme began.
