MANGALORE Nov 15: The Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Academy, one of the main components of the plan for the total revival of Konkani art, literature, music, folklore and theatre; will be inaugurated in Panaji on November 18.

The Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation, headquartered here, has also initiated construction of the World Konkani Centre at Shaktinagar in Mangalore.

President of the foundation Basti Vaman Shenoy said the Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Academy would have representatives from four States — Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala, where Konkani speaking people were concentrated.

Artistes would have a centre for performance at the World Konkani Centre, Mr. Shenoy said. The foundation was also planning to set up World Konkani Sangeet Nritya Academy, Word Konkani Nataka Academy, World Konkani Lokaveda Academy (for folklore and performing artistes), World Konkani Library Committee, World Konkani Museum Committee and Vishwa Konkani Bhasha Samsthan, he added.

The foundation has nominated the first batch of 15 members for the academy. They were Uday Bhembre, Pundalika Nayak, Tanaji Halrankar, Madhavi Sardesai and Prakash Vazarikar from Goa; J.B. Moraes, J.B. Sequeira and N.D. Sonde from Maharasthra; Mark Walder, Edwin J.F. D'Souza, Eric Crasta and Jayashri Shanbhag from Karnataka; and Gokuldas Prabhu, R.S. Bhaskar and Sunita Bai from Kerala, he said.

Sahodara Vedike to be launched

MANGALORE: Sahodara Vedike, an apolitical organisation comprising like-minded people and formed in response to recent communal incidents in the district, will formally be launched on Wednesday.

The vedike comprises members from all communities in the region and will work to prevent communal flare-ups in the district in future.

According to Denis D'Silva, the group's general secretary, the vedike had drawn up a five-point strategy to prevent such incidents. These include identifying communally sensitive places in the district and creating awareness among the people on how to deal with such situations, Mr. D'Silva said.

Hindu