“A region cannot develop with mere infrastructure development. A region can achieve remarkable all round development if the regional culture and tradition is preserved,” said MLA K G Bopaiah.

Releasing the ‘Kodava Bharathi,’ the Kodava language textbook brought out by Karnataka Kodava Sahithya Academy, Kodagu Journalists’ Association and Kodagu Press Club on Saturday, Mr Bopaiah said that a civilised society can be built only if the cultural base is strong and is preserved.

“There are several regional language, culture, rituals and celebrations. We Indians have preserved our unity in diversity, which has added more value to our culture. Kodagu district is being attacked by several outside forces hence preserving and safeguarding our culture is a must,” he added.

He lauded the attempt of the Academy for having compiled a text so that everyone could learn Kodava language.

He assured that he would do all possible attempts to hold a meeting at the District Administration and government level to work out ways to implement the text book in the schools.

Addressing the gathering, Deputy Commissioner K R Niranjan said that though the Academy has made a stable move in bringing out Kodava language textbook, he said that it should not adopt the extreme rule of discarding usage of Kannada or English words.

“At the outset one can feel that there is lot of similarity between Kodava and Kannada language, hence learning Kodava should not be a problem,” he added.

Kodava Sahithya Academy President Ulliyada Dati Poovaiah said that the Academy will try to implement the textbook in the schools.

Kodagu District Journalists’ Association President K K Shashidhar, Kodagu Press Club President H T Anil and others were present at the programme.