''Vauraddeancho Ixtt'' (Workers' Friend) is a

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

n weekly magazine in

Romi Konkani Konkani in the Roman script, commonly known as Romi Konkani or ''Romi Konknni'' () refers to the writing of the Konkani language in the Roman script. While Konkani is written in five different scripts altogether, Romi Konkani is widely used. Romi ...

. It has been published continuously since 1933 and is one of the oldest publications in the state. It was started on 4 January 1933 by Fr Arsencio Fernandes and Fr Graciano Moraes in order to protect poor and less educated workers against communist propaganda that they were being exposed to. The charge later passed on from the diocesan priests to the hands of the Society of Pilar. ''Vauraddeancho Ixtt'' started writing on topics such as the

comunidade The Comunidades of Goa were a form of land association developed in Goa, India, where land-ownership was collectively held, but controlled by the male descendants of those who claimed to be the founders of the village, who in turn mostly belonged ...

system and the caste system. It has supported various issues since then like the struggle of ''Ramponkars'' in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, land grab, falling employment, environmental degradation, concerns of democratic and human rights violations, food and

water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is whe ...

and the failing

Public Distribution System The Public Distribution System (PDS) is an Indian food security system that was established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution to distribute food and non-food items to India's poor a ...

. The weekly played a brave role in the support of Goa’s freedom struggle, a role that angered the Portuguese who then imposed clamps on the paper. It played the role of a nationalist newspaper that the Portuguese tried to suppress before the Invasion of Goa. It was initially published in Konkani,

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, and

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. Currently, it is mainly in Konkani, with a few columns in English. ''Vauraddeancho Ixtt'' gives away awards every year that are conferred upon Konkani writers and on those who contributed significantly to the Konkani language and to Goan culture. Social activists and young Konkani writers who have been associated with the weekly are also felicitated on the occasion. According to

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, the online edition of ''Vauraddeancho Ixtt'' is read in over 50 countries. It has a circulation of 15,000 copies in Goa,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, other parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and overseas. In 2010, there was a fresh surge in interest in the magazine as it launched a

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which has become very popular.

External links

''Vauraddeancho Ixtt'' website

References

{{Konkani language topics Magazines published in India Magazines established in 1933 Mass media in Goa Konkani-language magazines