The Kannada Studies chair has started functioning at the Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU) from October 1.
Scholar Purushothama Bilimale has assumed office as head of the chair. The chair has been established at the Centre for Indian Languages, School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies of the university.
“The primary activity of the centre will be Kannada language teaching, literary studies, cultural studies, digital archives and work towards disseminating the history and culture of Kannada,” Bilimale told Deccan Herald.
Bilimale had earlier served as Director of the American Institute of Indian Studies, Delhi, Head of the Department of Folklore, Kannada University, Hampi, and lecturer in the Kannada department of the Mangalore University.
“This year, two to three students will be admitted for the PhD programme at the centre. From next academic year, students will be taken in for the MPhil programme. There is also a plan to create a Kannada teaching portal to meet the needs of non-resident Kannadigas,” the professor said.
The chair is supported by the Karnataka government with a financial assistance of Rs 50 lakh per year for a period of five years towards academic activities and the establishment, he said. The university already has other languages chairs like Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Bengali, Bilimale said.
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