Sammelana will depict complete picture of Kannada, culture: CM

Yeddyurappa said the conference would focus not only on literature or literary activities, but also depict a complete picture of Kannada and its culture.

Assuring the House and the people of the State that the conference would be organised on a grand scale, Yeddyurappa said citizens from all walks of life, including artists, poets, litterateurs and sportspersons, will participate in the event.

He said arrangements had been made for the transport, food and accommodation of the delegates.

Special trains and buses will run during the three days of the conference. Infosys Technologies Chief Mentor N R Narayana Murthy will inaugurate the meet. Rashtrakavi G S Shivarudrappa will launch a series of 100 books and Jnanapith awardee U R Ananthamurthy will release a Sammelana souvenir.

Spread across 15 venues in Belgaum, the convention will host music and dance programmes, plays, art and cultural events.

Besides a mega book exhibition, there will be displays on handicrafts, advances in agriculture and horticulture, industry, IT&BT, science, history, manuscripts and tourism, the chief minister said.

A major attraction at the conference would be the seminar line-up on a host of topics. These include culture, Horanadu and NRI Kannadigas, globalisation, science and technology, media, use of language, Dalit literature and tradition among others.

Several cultural programmes will be organised as part of the conference, he said.

Compilation of Kannada songs

The Kannada and Culture Department in association with Lahari Recording Company has brought out a collection of 3,000 Kannada songs in 50 MP3s. The collection will be released in Belgaum on March 11, the inaugural day of the World Kannada Conference.

The collection has popular songs of Kuvempu, Bendre, G S Shivarudrappa, Gopalakrishna Adiga, K S Nisar Ahmed, PuThiNa, G P Rajarathnam, Channaveera Kanavi, N S Lakshminarayana Bhat, K S Narasimhaswamy, H S Venkateshamurthy and Siddalingaiah.
The songs are rendered by P Kalingarao, C Ashwath, Shimoga Subbanna, Ananthaswamy, Rajkumar, S P Balasubramyam, Rathnamala Prakash, B R Chaya, Archana Udupa, Appagere Thimmaraju, B K Sumitra and Pichchalli Srinivas.