MNCs will be told to display Kannadiga staff numbers: Minister

Bengaluru: Multinational companies will be asked to display on their premises the number of Kannadigas they employ, Kannada & Culture Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi told the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

The minister said this during a discussion on the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development (Amendment) Bill, which was passed in the Upper House after having sailed through the Assembly last Thursday. The Bill requires businesses to have 60 per cent of their signage in Kannada. 

Lawmakers discussed the Bill in detail and made suggestions. Responding to them, Tangadagi assured the House that the government will make all efforts to protect and ensure prominence of the Kannada Language.  

To ensure that multinational companies in the state employ sufficient number of Kannadigas, the government will ask them to display details, Tangagadi said. "We will make MNCs display the number of Kannadigas they employ on their notice boards," he said. 

Tangadagi also said that the government is pushing to strengthen Kannada in judiciary. "We are taking enough steps to protect, promote and strengthen Kannada. Even in judiciary, we are putting efforts to have judgements delivered in Kannada and motivate advocates to argue in Kannada," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the government has developed an app through which citizens can raise complaints if Kannada is dishonoured. 

During the discussion, former Kannada & Culture minister Umashree suggested that members from the Gadinadu Development Authority and Kannada Sahitya Parishat must be added to the machinery that will enforce the law.

On suggestions made by some members to withdraw cases on pro-Kannada activists and include Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj in the state-level committee on Kannada development, Tangagadi said they will be examined.