Portraits of 5 Konkani stalwarts – Makers of Indian Constitution unveiled
Mangaluru, Aug 20, 2022: Maroor Shashidhar Pai, President of KCCI, unveiled the portraits of the 5 stalwarts who contributed to the framing of Indian Constitution. On the occasion of Amrith Mahotsav of India’s Independence, the World Konkani Centre commemorated contribution of 5 Konkani Stalwarts to the framing of India’s Constitution.
Portraits of the Constitutional Advisor to the Drafting Committee, Sir Benegal Narsing Rau and the members of Constituent Assembly of India, Ullal Srinivasa Mallya, Benegal Shiva Rau, Rev. Fr. Jerome D’Souza and Hundi Hari Vishnu Kamath were added to the World Konkani Hall of Fame.
Rev. Fr. Anil D’Mello, Director, Fatima Retreat Centre released the Booklet on the 5 stalwarts.
Ashwin Cherkal, SVC Bank, garlanded the portrait of Benegal Narsing Rau, Dr. Padmavathi Shenoy, the granddaughter of Ullal Srinivasa Mallya garlanded the portrait of the Architect of Modern Dakshina Kannada- US Mallya and Usha Kamath, a relative, paid floral tributes. Prof. Hundi Prabha Kamath garlanded the portrait of Hundi Vishnu Kamath, President of World Konkani Centre Nandagopal Shenoy, garlanded the portrait of Benegal Shiva Rao.
Dr. Kasturi Mohan Pai, the Konkani Movement Leader and Trustee of the World Konkani Centre called upon the Konkani people to learn how to write Konkani and also read the literature produced in Konkani to contribute to the growth of the mother tongue.
Though Konkani people are only 25 lakhs, the language has been included in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution in comparison with the languages with large number of speakers such as Hindi and Bengali. The Konkani people should utilise this opportunity and preserve the language to the next generation. He was delivering a lecture on Konkani Manyatay Divas celebrating the 30 years of recognition of Konkani language as a National Language by inclusion in 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Chief Guest Maroor Shashidhar Pai, congratulated the efforts of the World Konkani Centre in preserving the Konkani Language and empowering the Konkani Communities. Rev. Fr. Anil D’Mello spoke about the contribution of Fr. Jerome D’Souza to framing of the Indian Constitution and the Educational field.
Nandagopal Shenoy welcomed the guests. He also congratulated the students who secured high percentile scores in the Mensa IQ Test conducted under the Manikya – The Gifted Education Programme of the World Konkani Centre.
Mensa International certificates were distributed to the students who scored more than 95 Percentile score in the Mensa IQ Test conducted under the MANIKYA – The Gifted Child programme of the World Konkani Centre on this occasion.
Dr. Narayan Desai, Director of Tribal Mensa Nurturing Programme conducted an orientation session for the students and parents. Giridhar Kamath, secretary of World Konkani Centre congratulated the students and sought cooperation from the parents in nurturing the children. Gurudath Bantwalkar, CEO, the World Konkani Centre, introduced the Gifted Education Programme spread across 12 nurturing workshops conducted at the World Konkani Centre for the children identified as Gifted. 25 students and their parents participated in the programme.
Gilbert D’Souza, Vice President, B. R. Bhat, Treasurer, Trustees William D’Souza, Shakuntala R. Kini, Past Vice President Allen C. A. Pereira were present on the occasion. Dr. Vyshnavi N. Kini sang Abhiman Geet.
