New project director of classical Kannada centre

P K Khandoba, a retired professor of Kannada at the Institute of Kannada Studies, Gulbarga University, has been appointed the project director of the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada (CESCK) at the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru.

The 63-year-old eminent writer and expert on Banjara culture assumed the new assignment on Monday and will be in office for three years.

Dr Khandoba is the second project director of the CESCK and for all practical purposes the first full-time appointee.

H M Maheshwaraiah was appointed the first project director in April 2015 but he was in office for just a fortnight as he quit the post to become the vice-chancellor of Central University of Karnataka at Kalaburagi.

Expressing satisfaction over the post-retirement assignment, Dr Khandoba told Deccan Herald that he had the responsibility of taking up projects and schemes in accordance with the classical status accorded to Kannada by the Central government in 2008. “Though it is seven years since Kannada became a classical language, no worthwhile programmes or schemes have been planned and executed. Central funds given in this regard have remained unutilised. I have to try to judiciously use the funds,” he said.