PANAJI: Pointing out that Goans residing in Portugal want facilities to study Konkani so that they and their children remain connected to their cultural roots, former external affairs minister Eduardo Faleiro said that the government of Goa may ensure that this is done.
Faleiro recalled that last week, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Portugal, the two governments signed eleven agreements and one of them was regarding establishment of a Chair of Indian studies at the University of Lisbon and development of a Hindi-Portuguese dictionary adding, “This agreement merely endorses the existing arrangement. Both the facilities already exist at the University of Lisbon and were created at my instance by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.”
Faleiro also said, “During my visit to Portugal sometime ago, I met several prominent individuals of Indian origin and they complained to me about the absence of any Indian cultural centre in that country. Indeed, the United States has the USIS, UK has the British Council, France the Alliance Française, Germany the Goethe Institute, China the Confucius Institute but there was no cultural presence of India in Portugal. India was the only major country with no cultural presence in Portugal.”
Faleiro further said that on the other hand, the Portuguese government has been funding for the past several years the study of Portuguese culture and language in Goa and elsewhere in India but there was no presence of India in the academic institutions of Portugal.
Faleiro also said, “On my return, I spoke to Dr Karan Singh, then Chairman of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and to the Director General of ICCR and asked them to establish a Centre for Indian Studies in Portugal. They agreed to do so and as a result a Centre for Indian Studies has been set up at the Faculty of Arts, University of Lisbon. In the very first year, 240 students enrolled for the Hindi language programme. A dictionary of Hindi-Portuguese is also under preparation there.”
