State to take lead in primary education in mother tongue

All States should exert pressure on Centre to amend laws

 Revenue and District in-charge Minister V Sreenivas Prasad, on Saturday, said, the State government was planning to take the lead to press for an amendment to the existing legislation to impart primary education in one’s mother tongue.

Addressing a gathering at the Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations, organised by the District Administration, at the North Gate of the Palace, here, Prasad said, “The State will take the leadership of other States in this regard”.

Prasad said, the State has taken adequate measures for compulsory primary education in mother tongue. However, the Supreme Court ruling in this regard came as an impediment. So, all State governments must exert pressure on the Central government.

Saying that Kannadigas always vouched for self-respect, Prasad said, the language has a rich history of thousands of years that was duly recognised by awarding Classical Language status.

Prasad promised to hold talks with the authorities concerned to retain the Centre of Excellence for Classical Language in Kannada set up on the premises of Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), in the city.

He reiterated that the government was committed to implement the recommendations of Mahajan Commission report.

Awards conferred

The District Administration conferred honours on 13 eminent personalities from different fields and an organisation, on the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava
Those conferred honours are: B Vasudev (theatre), Amshi Prasanna Kumar (journalism), Dr H Basavanagowdappa (medicine), Bannur K Raju (literature), Nala Beedhi Ravi, B A Shivashankar and Sreenivas Mitra (Kannada activists), Subbashetty (sports), V Sreenivas (sculpture), Bhanu Mohan (environment), Venugopal (social service), Pragati Gopalkrishna (photography), Kamsale Mahadev (folk art) and Dr C G Narasimhan (on behalf of Ganabharathi).