Role of Marathi Press in Freedom Movement of India free essay sample

A Gandhian activist, freedom fighter and a pioneer in the modern Konkani movement, he is a well known Konkani scholar, linguist, and creative thinker. Kelkar was a participant in the Indian freedom movement, Goa’s liberation movement, and later the campaign against the merger of the newly formed Goa with Maharashtra. He played a key role in the founding of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, which lead the literary campaign for the recognition of Konkani as a full-fledged language, and its reinstatement as the state language of Goa. He authored nearly 100 books in the Konkani language, including Amchi Bhas Konkaneech, Shalent Konkani Kityak, Bahu-bhashik Bharatant Bhashenche Samajshastra and Himalayant, and also edited Jaag magazine for more than two decades. Kelekar died at Apollo Hospital at Margao, Goa at around 11. 30 am on Friday August 27. He was 85. [3][5][not in citation given] His remains were cremated with State honours at his native village of Priol. We will write a custom essay sample on Role of Marathi Press in Freedom Movement of India or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Kelekar received the Padma Bhushan (2008),[6][7] the Gomant Sharada Award of Kala Academy,[7] the Sahitya Akademi Award (1976),[8] and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship (2007)—the highest award of the Sahitya Akademi, Indias National Academy of Letters. [9] He also received the 2006 Jnanpith Award,[10] the first ever awarded to an author writing in the Konkani language,[1] which was presented in July 2010. [11] Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career Personal life 4 Bibliography 4. 1 Konkani 4. 2 Konkani translations 4. 3 Marathi 4. 4 Hindi 5 References 6 External links Early life and education Kelekar was born on March 25, 1925, in the city of Cuncolim in South Goa. [1] His father, Dr Rajaram Kelekar, was a physician who later became renowned for his Portuguese translation of the Bhagwad Gita. [7] While still a student at the Lyceum High School in Panaji, Kelekar joined the Goa liberation movement in 1946. This brought him in close contact with several local and national leaders, including Ram Manohar Lohia, under whose influence he was able to recognize the power of language to mobilize the local populace. Later, he saw the potential in his native Konkani language, which became his lifelong work. [7] Career Already deeply influenced by Gandhian philosophy, in 1949 Kelekar left his native Goa for Wardha, to be with noted Gandhian and writer Kakasaheb Kalelkar. Kelekar stayed under Kalelkars tutelage until 1955, when he was appointed librarian of the Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi. This turned out to be short-lived, as only a year later he plunged back into the Goa freedom movement. With a mission to reconnect the Goan diaspora all over the world, he started the weekly, Gomant Bharati (1956–60),[12] published in the Latin script in Bombay. Soon after, being an active participant in Goas struggle for freedom, he was imprisoned by the Portuguese. He was released when the Indian Army invaded and annexed Goa in 1961. He joined the socio-political campaign against the merger of Goa into the neighbouring Maharashtra state, which ended after the plebiscite of 1967, with Goa retaining its separate identity albeit as a union territory. Goa retained this status until 1987, when it was declared a separate state. After Goas independence, Kelekar took to literary activism, in the form of getting his native Konkani language its due status as an independent language, rather than as just a dialect of Marathi. He was compared favorably with pioneers in the Konkani literary movement, such as Shenoi Goembab. During this period, he wrote some of his most important works promoting the Konkani language, including Aamchi Bhas Konkanich (1962), a dialogue revealing the importance of Konkani to the common man on the street; Shallent Konkani Kityaak (1962), highlighting the significance of having Konkani medium schools in Goa; and A Bibliography of Konkani Literature in Devanagari, Roman and Kannada characters (1963). [4][14] In February 1987, the Goa Legislative Assembly had passed the Official Language Bill making Konkani the Official Language of Goa. 15] The struggle ended in 1992, when Konkani was included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution as an official language. [16] With lifes mission completed, Kelkar retired from public life, focusing mainly of his writing. On February 26, 1975, the Sahitya Akademi, Indias National Academy of Letters, recognized Konkani as an independent language. [citation needed] The first Sahitya Akademi Award for a work in Konkani was won by Kelekar for his travelogue, Himalayant, in 1977. 17][18][19] The Akademis first Translation Award in Konkani also went to Kelekar in 1990 for Ami Taankan Manshant Haadle, a Konkani translation of a collection of essays in Gujarati, Mansaeena Diva, by Jhaverchand Meghani. [20] He received the 2006 Jnanpith Award, which was the first given to a Konkani-language writer. [10] The pinnacle of his career came with the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2007. [9] A lifelong proponent of regional languages, in his acceptance speech for the Jnanpith award, he said, People have stopped reading books in regional languages. On the other hand, through English, we have created Bonsai intellectuals, Bonsai writers and Bonsai readers. [21] When the Vishwa Konkani Sahitya Academy, an offshoot of the Konkani Language and Cultural Foundation, was set up in 2006, the first work it took up for translation was Velavaylo Dhulo, a collection of Kelekars essays. [22] His books have been translated into Hindi and other North Indian languages, and are used by universities. [23] Personal life Kelekar married Godubai Sardessai in 1949; their son Guirish was born within a year. Kelekar lived in his ancestral home—built by his father in 1937—called Kelekar House, in the village of Priol in central Goa. The Casa Dos Kelekars, as it is formally known, is now seen as exemplary of a typical Goan Saraswat Brahmin community home. [24] Bibliography This article contains a list of works that does not follow the Manual of Style for lists of works (often, though not always, due to being in reverse-chronological order) and may need cleanup. This section lacks information such as ISBNs for the books listed in it. 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