Lok Sabha Question No. 1275 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-28
Subject: Efforts to Promote and Preserve Konkani
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Captain Viriato Fernandes

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-1275

ANSWERED ON - 28/07/2025

## 'Efforts to Promote and Preserve Konkani'

## 1275.   Shri Captain Viriato Fernandes:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the  reasons  for  not  implementing  the  Konkani  medium  in  degree  programmes  as  a language policy reforms despite the demand of All-India Konkani Parishad.
- (b) The  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  government  to  mandate  Konkani  language  in Degree programmes and to allocated fund to such Institutes;

(c) the details of administrative requirements that have left colleges without key leadership or faculty on contrary to the UGC norms which is affecting the academic quality of Goa University;

(d) the  details  of  initiatives  taken  by  the  Government  in  launching  Konkani-medium undergraduate or postgraduate programs in goa University supported under schemes like RUSA or NEP;

- (e) whether Goa University's system lacking Konkani instruction beyond school, level;
- (f) whether the Konkani language is 'unsafe' due to its minimal representation in Higher Education as per UNESCO's warning report;

(g) whether the Government plans to establish Konkani Language Commission to introduce it in Higher Education; and

(h) the details of allocated grants for curricula, teacher training and research Programmes at the University level?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a) to (h) The policy of the Government of India is to promote all Indian languages, including Konkani.  The  National  Education  Policy  (NEP),  2020  emphasizes  the  promotion  of multilingualism and encourages efforts to keep Indian languages vibrant. It focuses on both scheduled and non-scheduled Indian languages, and recommends, wherever possible, the use of the home language/mother tongue/local language as the medium of instruction at least up to Class 5, and preferably up to Class 8. The Government is integrating multilingualism at both school  and  higher  education  levels  by  providing  reading  materials  in  Indian  languages, including Konkani, enabling students to study in their mother tongue or local language.

As per the budget announcement of 2025-26, Government has proposed to implement a Bharitya Bhasha Pustak Scheme wherein the textbooks and study materials for every subject being  offered  by  all  education  institutions  for  schools  and  higher  education  shall  be  made available in 22 Indian languages, including Konkani, in digital form.

Education  being  in  the  Concurrent  List,  enhancing  the  quality  of  education  is  the responsibility of both the Central and State Governments. However, recognizing the need for central assistance, the Central Government has implemented various schemes for supporting State Governments' Universities. Goa University is a state university. As per the information provided by Goa University, the University and its affiliated colleges are offering BA (Honors) in Konkani, MA in Konkani, and Ph.D. in Konkani program. Besides this, Goa University is also  offering  an  offline  Certificate  Course  in  Konkani  Proficiency  of  100  hours  for  nonKonkani speakers. Also, at the UG level, for programs such as BBA, BCA, BA, BSc, B.Com., and Bachelor of Engineering (BE), Konkani is offered as a Modern Indian Language (MIL) under Ability Enhancement Course (AEC) as per NEP 2020 policy.

Apart  from  the  above,  under  the  Malaviya  Mission  Teacher  Training  Programme (MMTTP) a centre  has  been  established  at  Goa  University,  which  aims  to  implement  the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP), with a focus on quality teaching, equity, online education, integration of technology, promotion of Indian languages, vocational education, and multidisciplinary learning.

Under the Centrally Funded Scheme of Government of India i.e. RUSA/PM-USHA, 30 projects with central support of ₹125.4 crore have been approved in the state of Goa under various components. Of this, Goa University has been approved central support of ₹84 crore under different components. From this fund, a Shenoi Goembab Konkani Computer Lab and a Konkani lecture hall of Goa University have been established and furnished.

Western Regional Language Centre in Pune of Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) offers a ten-month diploma course in Konkani as a second language. This course is available  in  three  levels-Basic,  Intermediate,  and  Advanced-and  is  open  to  in-service teachers, prospective teachers, research scholars, and the general public. Besides, as part of the Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages (LDC-IL) programme, the various Konkani datasets have been developed and released for public use, namely a) Gold standard Konkani Raw  Text  Corpus  b)  Konkani  Raw  Speech  Corpus  c)  Konkani  Sentence  Aligned  Speech Corpus.

Additionally, CIIL under its project, Bharatvani works to disseminate knowledge in and about  all  Indian  languages  through  its  multilingual  online  portal  (www.bharatvani.in)  and mobile app. It is the world's largest platform for text-searchable dictionaries and glossaries. The portal currently hosts 171 Konkani language resources.

A total  amount of ₹21,37,500/- was released to  Goa University  under the MMTTP Scheme for conducting approved teacher training programmes during the year 2024-25.

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