Uttara Kannada village seeks stronger ties with Goa

KARWAR: Majali, a village on the

Karnataka–Goa border

, is best known for its stunning beach and Ramanath Temple. Just 13km from Karwar city, its 7,665 residents mostly speak Konkani, and all residents are fluent in Marathi and Hindi, though not so much in Kannada. Which perhaps gives a clue about its cultural affinity.


Contrary to other parts of

Uttara Kannada

, the sex ratio is 483 males to 517 females with a high literacy rate of over 90%. “Our village is a good example of Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign,” said Ravindra Pawar, an activist and leader of the cooperative movement in the taluk, adding, “I’ve two daughers; while one is an engineer, the other works for a multinational company.”

Though the village has two engineering colleges — one owned by former MLA Satish Sail and the other run by the government, locals complain about the lack of educational institutions. “Till the late ’60s, there were hundreds of Marathimedium schools and people migrated to Mumbai for jobs. When people realised it’s difficult to get jobs in Karnataka without knowing Kannada, they opted for Kannada-medium schools. Almost all Marathi-medium schools were converted into Kannada ones. However, over the past two decades, there’s been a surge in demand for English-medium education. Kannada schools were closed as they didn’t have enough students,” said Manohar Naik, a retired Army jawan.

He added, “Over 500 students go to English-medium schools in neighbouring Goa because those who study in that state for 10 years are eligible for jobs there.”

A checkpost separates Majali from Polem village in Goa. Compared to Polem, the infrastructure in Majali is far better, said farmer Hari Sawant. Over the past five years, the Centre has converted NH66 (which passes through the village) into a four-lane road. Majali has a drinking water problem but Polem has no such issues.

In recent times, tourist footfall has grown tremendously. The state government has played a major role, and crores of rupees have been pumped in to improve for tourism infrastructure. Teelamati beach in Majali is one of the two beaches in India which has black sand and that’s a huge attraction, said localite Lakshmi Kamat, adding, “No doubt, South Goa is a hot destination but infrastructure here is better.”

A fishing port has been sanctioned for the area and that’s expected to give the sector a boost. With an IIT planned in Polem, locals say the two state governments should work together and set up an industrial corridor along the border to help the economy on both sides.