Medical education and district in-charge minister S A Ramdas on Thursday mooted conducting national level entrance exams to medical courses in Kannada. The minister said that he would putforth the similar demand at the medical education ministers’ convention scheduled to be held on November 2 in New Delhi.

Addressing the huge gathering at Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations at the  north gate of the Palace here on Thursday, he said, medical education ministers’ convention has been organised to discuss various problems plaguing the department. He said he would demand for  question papers in regional languages  for national entrance exams.
Karnataka has emerged as a successful state amidst plenty of problems. The state has been facing stepmotherly treatment from the Centre since its formation in 1956, including the recent Cauvery river water sharing issue, he added. Commenting on the High Court’s instruction not to hoist Kannada flag, he said, let us at least not be deprived of celebrating the rich heritage of the state. There will be no written records for a few cultural celebrations.

Mentioning researches related to Kannada language, he said researches regarding the language and its culture has been done in NASA. “History of Kannada and Karnataka dates back to the third century, when the name has been mentioned in epics. Not only in ‘Somantha Charithre’ and ‘Markandeya Purana’, the language and state have seen mentions in epics of Tamil language. ‘Karunadar’ is the word found in the literature of the neighbouring state. Noting that the then Mysore state in particular has strived for the formation of Karnataka, he said, if it was not for the struggle then, most regions of the State would now have been parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Elaborating on the classical language tag for Kannada, he said, the language has not been provided with any benefits or facilities. The state government has been working to translate literary works of Kannada to international languages.

A procession of various cultural troupes, including Nandi dwaja, veeragase, somana kunitha, kamsale, puja kunitha, dollu kunitha, nagari, garudi gombe, tableau of BEML Kannada Sangha along with an idol of goddess Bhuvaneshwari, school and college students, 10 batallions of police personnel  and three police bands was initiated from the Palace gate, which culminated at the same point after passing through prominent roads of the city.

Deputy commissioner P S Vastrad, mayor M C Rajeshwari, deputy mayor Mahadevappa and others were present.