Mangaluru: The Vishwa Konkani Awards-2017, were conferred on five eminent personalities at Sudhindra Hall, Canara Girls High School here on November 20.
The Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Puraskar was conferred on Gajanan Jog for Konkani short stories “Khand Ani Her Katha”, Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani poetry Award was conferred on Konkani writer Wilson Kateel for an anthology of Konkani Poems (Encounter), Vimala V Pai Vishwa Konkani Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on Dr. Tanaji Halarnkar for life time contributions to Konkani language movement, Basti Vaman Shenoy Vishwa Konkani Seva Puraskar was conferred on Dr. G Nagendra Prabhu for exemplary service in the field of Science, Research and to Dr. Usha S Heranjal for exemplary service in the field of Healthcare.
All the five awards consisted of Rs 1 lakh cash with citation, shawl and memento.
Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education, Bengaluru, in his note said, “Any community will come forward, only if it’s culture is preserved. The Konkani speaking community has spread across the globe but people concerned are giving too less importance to their mother tongue. The people who worked in various fields for the betterment of society, should be recognised. And their good work towards better society should be identified. Because those people are the role model to the society.”
He also said that due to the fast growing information technology people were communicating less, instead they spent their time on computers and television. And also habit of reading books has come down among the people, he lamented.
Dr. B A Vivek Rai, former vice chancellor of Hampi University was the chief guest for the programme.
Basthi Vaman Shenoy, President of Vishwa Konkani Kendra, Siddharth M Pai, Ramadas U Kamath , Venkatesh Baliga, K Jagadish Shenoy and others were present.
