Hi Godfrey, Please advise on whether there is the support from the erstwhile CM Manohar Parrikar and his party for Konkani in the Roman and Devnagiri Scripts. As an IIT-trained engineer and member of the elite club of IITians who are admired the world over, he should realize the tremendous potential economic impact on Goa of giving official status to Konkani in the Roman and Devnagiri scripts. Therefore he should support the movement which gives Goa a rather unfair advantage when it comes to enhancing tourism (such as in Hawaii) or attracting outside business/investments such as in other countries which have adopted the internet compatible Roman script. If he doesn't support this movement, he might as well be stripped of his IIT qualifications (if there was a way to do it for non-practicing engineers / politicians). If Rane is waffling over this issue and Parrikar and his party supports it, then the Rane Govt should be voted out and Parrkar should be the Chief Minister ! If parrilkar and his party does not overtly and covertly support this movement, then he should be sent into retirement from politics - We need technocrats who see the bigger picture for the greater good of our beloved Goa - we do not need the the B**-B** Goans from either the pro-Marathi lobby or the old sacs with the "Aao Portuguese" type pride and prejudice !
To show his testicular virility (aka to show that he has the b**lls to support the Roman script), I also urge Manohar Parrikar to start a movement to promote Marathi in the Roman script and give Maharashtra a similar edge over other states in attracting outside tourists, investors, businessmen(who BTW are typically more entrepreneurial and not Maharastrian), as compared to the rest of India. This would also be supported to the hilt by the younger generations of the overseas Marathi diaspora....and who knows with the tremendous gains made by the pro-Roman script movement for Konkani and Marathi in the Roman script, in Goa and Maharashtra respectively, Manohar Parrikar may be the first Goan and the first IIT-educated technocrat to become Prime Minister of India ! Best Regards, Carmo