Goa was liberated from the Portuguese rule on 19th December 1961. The cultural and linguistic rights of the people of Goa were deprived during the colonial period. Restrictions on the progress of the mother tongue of Goans were imposed by the Portuguese Government which ruled Goa for over 450 years. Large number of Goans were living under colonial mind set. Unity amongst Goans was fractured. Self respect and confidence were lacking. There was urgent need to restructure the social, cultural and economical base of Goa. Post liberation, it was a need to bring all Goans on one platform for the overall development of Goa which was suppressed during the Portuguese rule. The only element which could then bring all Goans under one banner was certainly the mother tongue- Konkani.
Thus, the Konkani Bhasha Mandal was formed by the likeminded people to serve the cause. Konkani Bhasha Mandal is a premier socio-cultural institution devoted for the development of language, literature and culture. It was formed immediately after the liberation of Goa. It was formally registered on 30th September 1962 and was the first organization to be registered in free Goa.
The first challenge before the KBM was to prove that Konkani is an independent language. It was a notion then that Konkani is the dialect of Marathi. The Culture of Goa is identical to that of Maharastra. The propaganda to merge Goa in Maharastra was carried out under full force. It was KBM which led the movement to prove that Konkani is an independent language. Central Sahitya Akademy’s recognition to Konkani in this regard was a milestone. KBM members were successful in convincing Executive Members of Sahitya Akademy with lots of evidences. The merger issue also was settled with Goa retaining its separate UT status with the big win in historic opinion poll.
KBM started the primary and Pre-primary school in 1969 with an objective to provide a quality basic education in the mother tongue for Goan children. Since then it has prepared and published academic books, story books, CDs, Charts and other instructional materials to make teaching-learning in Konkani more impressive and enjoyable.
KBM has played a vital role in different agitations held against the cultural, social, environmental issues pertaining to the interest of Goa. KBM was instrumental in the agitation which led to the recognition of konkani as an independent language by the Central Sahitya Akademy. It has also played a very important role in the biggest agitation in the history of Goa which was held for getting official language status to Konkani language.
Konkani today has attained all major status at state and central level. Its writers have proved the literary strength of the language. The folk and traditional art forms have proved that the language originated along with other developed and major languages of India.
KBM today is the largest organization in Goa. Its member strength is close to 2500. Secularism, transparency in administration, democratic set up and programmes for all sections of the community are the important features of KBM.
The youth festival ‘Goa Yuva Mahotsav’ which is being organized by KBM for last 24 years on the theme GoanCulture is an unique event in its own way. Approximately 5 to 6 thousand youth from all parts of Goa participate and display their leadership skills, cultural talent and disciplined behavior in this festival. The ShenoiGoembabKathamal- story telling competition organized at different levels viz. School, taluka, district and state has attained immense popularity amongst the school students. Around 4000 students take part at different levels in this event. Quiz Competition for college students, orientation programmes for the language activists, workshops on translation and children’s literature are the important activities of KBM. It has translated literature from Konkani to other Indian languages and vice versa with the support of national level institutions like Pratham books, NBT, JyotsanaPrakashan, NCERT, Eklavya, Ektara etc.
It runs a library having more than 15000 books especially in Konkani. Its research centre caters to the need of many scholars.
Apart from the Primary school in Konkani which was started in 1979, KBM has established a new secondary school in 2012. Within few years this school has marked its existence in the state of Goa. It has become a first priority school for many of the parents. The schools run by KBM today provide quality education to over 600 students.
KBM has been honoured with ‘Best Institution Award’ by the Government of Goa in the year 2011. Besides this it has received honours from many prestigious institutions at state and national level.
