‘Work on Tulu Bhavan and museum to be given priority’

Minister for Women and Child Development, Kannada and Culture Jayamala assured of working towards the completion of Tulu Bhavan with topmost priority.

“Tulu is the language of the land. Tulu Bhavana is the symbol of pride of all Tuluvas,” she said and added that steps will be taken to establish a Tulu museum as well.

She was speaking at a programme organised by Tulu, Konkani, Beary and Arebhashe Academies at Tulu Bhavan in Mangaluru on Wednesday.

The programme was jointly organised by the four academies, on the occasion of the first visit of Jayamala to her native place Mangaluru, after taking over as the minister.

Taking note of the feeble representation of women in linguistic academies as members, Jayamala said that Beary Academy has two women members while Tulu and Konkani academies have four women members each. “The strength of women in linguistic academies is concerning. More women should be able to make their representation in linguistic academies. The academies should believe in the capabilities of women and encourage them,” said the minister.

‘Record cultural aspects’

Stressing on the need to record oral culture in the languages represented by various academies, the minister asked Tulu, Konkani and Beary linguistic academies to carry out video documentation of linguistic culture.

Stating that the role of academies is vital in creating a healthy society, she called upon the academies to work in unison towards achieving social justice through languages.

Expressing her concern over non-availability of pensions to some eligible artistes, Jayamala told the academies to ensure that the government benefit reaches deserving artistes. Also, the artistes and writers who are behind the scenes, need to be recognised by the academies.

Tulu script in schools

The Kannada and Culture Minister suggested the Tulu Academy to submit a memorandum to the primary and secondary education minister to take measures to teach Tulu script in primary classes. “Although people of Tulunadu are well-versed in the conversational aspect of Tulu, the use of Tulu script has diminished to a great extent over the years and only handful of people possess the knowledge of reading Tulu script. The rare knowledge should not go extinct. Therefore, it is the need of the hour that Tulu script is taught at an initial stage,” she explained.

The minister was felicitated on the occasion.

Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy Chairman A C Bhandary, Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy Chairman R P Naik, Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy Mohammed Karambaru and Karnataka Arebhashe Sahitya Academy Chairman D C Jayaram were present among others.