JOIN USAuthority chairman Mukhyamantri Chandru said at a press meet on Thursday that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had not initiated any action to set up a centre for excellence in Classical Kannada on the lines of the one for Tamil, even after two and half years of according classical language status to Kannada.
Though the HRD Ministry had declared that activities of Kannada as classical language will begin at the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore, nothing has happened so far.
The Finance Committee and the Planning Commission have not even approved a proposal sent by the CIIL in this regard, he alleged.
The Centre had earmarked Rs 2.20 crore to promote Kannada as classical language in its 2010-11 budget.
Funds not reached
But the money was not released. “When the issue was raised by the State government, the HRD Ministry said that Rs 62.70 lakh has been released to the CIIL under the budget 2011-12 for both Kannada and Telugu languages. Of this, only Rs 36 lakh is for Kannada.
But the CIIL has not received anything in writing to spend the money, so far,” he alleged.
In a letter dated May 11, 2011 to HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Chandru has also said that the people of Karnataka might resort to Statewide agitation demanding immediate implementation of language promotion activities.
Terming the issue emotive, Chandru has requested Sibal for steps to establish the Centre of Excellence for the language and release the funds.