Goa, June 1 -- Drawing a firm line over the State's linguistic policy, 37 Goan cultural and language organisations passed a unanimous resolution de manding the State govern ment not to entertain the plea to grant Marathi the status of an official lan guage-similar to Konka ni-and strictly to refrain from amending the Offi cial Languages Act under any pressure. At a crucial meeting at the Konkani Bhasha Mandal, Margao presided over by All India Konka ni Parishad President Fr Mouzinho de Ataide, rep resentatives mapped out new strategic initiatives to defend and propagate Konkani across education, employment, and culture.

Speaking on the occa sion, former MLA Uday Bhembre informed the gathering that the sole criterion applied when granting...