Classical Kannada Centre likely to get autonomous status soon: KDA head

Mysuru: 'Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada' (CESCK) will get autonomous status and be separated from the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), located in Mysuru, Kannada development authority (KDA) Chairperson Purushotham Bilimane said based on an assurance from Union Minister of Education (formerly HRD) Dharmendra Pradhan.

"But the minister has clarified that unlike Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) which comes under the Tamil Nadu State Government, CESCK will be brought under the Central Government, since it is a central government project," he said.

He was speaking to media persons after holding a meeting in Mysuru with over 70 pro-Kannada activists and members of Pro Kannada organisations and officials of Mysuru district related to the implementation of Pro Kannada policies/laws in the district on Saturday.

Purushotham said that when they met Pradhan on December 17, 2024, they conveyed how it was a mistake to attach CESCK (which focuses literary studies) with CIIL (which is a language research-oriented center), he said.

No renovation of permits

Speaking about the implementation of an ordinance to have 60 per cent Kannada and 40 per cent other languages in name boards of business establishments, he said that Mysuru Deputy Commissioner G Lakshmikanth Reddy has assured 100 per cent implementation of the rule in the district.

The DC has said that he would pass an order in two days and ensure permits of business establishments that do not follow the rule are not renewed.

Purushotham also noted that people from not just Karnataka, but across the country and world visit tourism destinations. Hence, they may also adopt a triple language formula for name boards in tourism destinations. But, they should mainly provide information to tourists in Kannada, while they can also use English and Hindi for it, he said.

He also noted that due to national-level recruitments for banks, there were a lot of non-Kannada-speaking employees.

This is affecting social fabric, leading to conflicts related to communication among employees and common people. Hence common people are also getting comfortable with personnel of micro finance companies who speak Kannada with them. But there is a rule that they should learn Kannada within three months after joining work in banks in the State, which should be strictly implemented. Also now that regional-level recruitments for banks are happening, there is hope to have more bank employees speaking regional languages, he said.

He also informed that they would urge the State Government to pass an order to ensure one of the employees of HRD in Multi-National Companies should be a Kannadiga to ease communication between HRD and Group C and D workers.

Purushotham also said that the State Government should take measures to protect the assets of Government Kannada schools.

DC G Lakshmikanth Reddy, CEO K M Gayathri, Kannada Kriya Samithi working President Sa Ra Sudarshan, KDA secretary Santhosh Hanagal, nominated member of KDA, T Gururaj and others participated in the meeting.