ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT
The Government has set up an Advisory Board for the effective implementation of the Official Language Act 1987. The Advisory Board constitutes of members headed by the Minister of Official Language as a Chairman of the Board. This Board shall advise the Government for effective implementation of Official Language Act & the matters thereof, like - to propose various Schemes, Sub-Committees, staff requirement, to study the language policy implemented in other States, etc. The tenure of the Board shall be for the period of three years, from the date of publishing such notification in Official Gazette and it shall be empowered to opt more members including experts if needful.
This Directorate has recently published five different notifications, wherein five different purposes for use of official language Konkani and Marathi language are notified under the Official Language Act viz 1) Display of name boards, 2) Publication of Invitation cards 3) Name/signboards of roads/streets, 4) Notices of Devasthan / Comunidades in official Gazette and 5) Recording police statement.
The main activities of the Directorate are as follows:
a) Implementation of Official Language Act 1987 and notifications issued under this Act.
b) Implementation of the Language policy of the State Government.
c) Initiating measures for maximum use of Official Language in Administration as well as other fields of knowledge.
d) Imparting training through various schemes by way of workshops, seminars, etc.
e) Imparting Devnagari Computer Typing training to Government/Semi-Government employees to familiarise them to undertake replies in Konkani, Marathi & Hindi.
Other Activities:-
1. Translation of various types of documents received from other Government Departments such as Developmental schemes, Invitation cards, LAQ’s, Election manuals, Press notes, Citizen Charters, Court Matters, Acts and Rules, etc. into Konkani/Marathi/Hindi/Portuguese and vice-versa,
2. Imparting training of Konkani Language to all Government employees at Taluka level including All India Service Officers posted in Goa, to facilitate them to use Konkani Language for Administrative purposes.
3. Devnagari Computer Typing training to the clerical staff is also a part of the above training program.
4. Preparation of various Terminologies in different subjects such as Administrative, Legal, Legislative, Folk-Lore (Lokved), Economics-Finance, Medicines, Granthalaya Paribhshik Utaraval Kosh, Education, Press Media, Glossary/Dictionary of Literary Terms, Glossary of Environmental Science, Medical Science and Awareness, Terminology of Trees, etc. in Konkani Language.
5. Implementation of various schemes for the effective implementation of Official Language and other Languages.
6. Organizing Workshops, Seminars on translation, copy editing, proofreading, vetting, etc. for the effective implementation of Official Language and other Languages.
7. Release of recurring Grants to Goa Konkani Akademi and Goa Marathi Akademy for the development of Konkani and Marathi languages respectively.
8. Grant-in-aid to Dalgado Konknni Akademi, Konkani Bhasha Mandal & All India Konkani Parishad for their activities in the field of promotion of concerned languages.
9. Directorate of Official language functions as Nodal Authority for use of Official Language by different Government Departments in their day-to-day administrative correspondence whenever required.
10. Nodal Agency with Government of India about State official language and facilitating languages in VIIIth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
11. To make all Government Websites multilingual (Konkani, Marathi, English, etc.).
12. Translation of various assembly matters in Konkani and Marathi. Also assistance to the office of the Speaker for the Legislative business in Konkani.
13. Translation of various Name Boards, Nomenclature, Signages, etc. in Konkani and Marathi.
14. To constitute a Panel of Private Translators to enable Government Departments, Public Sector undertakings, Corporations, other organizations, etc. to outsource the Translation from English to Konkani, English to Marathi, English to Hindi, English to Portuguese, and vice versa.
