Mangaluru : The World Konkani Centre has taken up the task of digitising 5,000 books of Rashtrakavi Manjeshwar Govinda Pai.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the World Konkani Centre and the Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Memorial Trust here on Saturday. The MoU was signed by managing trustee of World Konkani Centre Basti Vaman Shenoy and managing trustee of the trust D.K. Chowta.

The Manipal-based Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Research Centre, which has preserved these books, are providing them to facilitate digitisation. The World Konkani Centre will digitise 200 books per month and it has planned to finish the work in another 30 months.

Writer and the former Kannada University Vice-Chancellor B.A. Vivek Rai said with digitisation, the works of Govinda Pai will reach a far wider audience. The works include books in Latin, German Japanese that Govinda Pai has read and has made notes. “By going through notes on the Kittel Dictionary, Govinda Pai gives definitions to words.” Mr. Rai asked the Trust and the Centre to invite foreign language students to their centres and facilitate study of personal collection of Govinda Pai.

Former Union Minister M. Veerappa Moily, who is the Chairman of Trust, said following digitisation of Govinda Pai’s works, the Centre will provide a copy of it to the Trust. The digitised works will be available at the library coming up at the poet’s house in Manjeshwar that was being restored as a part Gilivindu project of the Trust. Mr. Moily said funds from Karnataka and Kerala governments were being used for the project. Apart from restoring Govinda Pai’s house, the trust was constructing a state-of-art auditorium and three guest houses. Mr. Chowta has taken up work of making bronze bust of Govinda Pai.