'Ekikarana' movement: A timeline

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Under such circumstances, a need was felt among Kannadigas living in these various administrative units to form one state, which would unify all Kannada-speaking people in the various regions. This movement called the Ekikarana movement was led by litterateurs and thinkers.

* The Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha was established in Dharwad in 1890. This was an important phase in the history of the unification movement. The Sangha was started by R H Deshpande who strove for the revival of Kannada in a region which was part of the Bombay Presidency where Marathi was the language of administration.

* It was later that the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (Bangalore) was set up (1915), which was another driving force in the unification movement.

* Alur Venkata Rao was the leading light of the unification movement. The publication of his Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava in 1912 gave a huge push in terms of a mass movement. He was known as the Kannada Kula Purohita or the ‘High priest of the Kannada family.’

* The States Reorganisation Commission was constituted by the Central government under the States Reorganisation Act and consisted of Hon. Fazal Ali, Kavalam Madhava Panikkar, and HN Kunzru.

* The recommendations of the Fazal Ali Committee was ratified by the Parliament, which meant that several disparate Kannada-speaking regions would now come under the Mysore State.
n The State was formed on November 1, 1956.

n It was on November 1, 1973, under Devaraj Urs as chief minister that the Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka.