Madikeri: A demand to include Kodava language in the VIII Schedule of the Constitution, bringing it under the purview of the Central Sahitya Academy, was made to the chairman of the National Linguistic Minority Commission, K.K. Sethi, by the representatives of various Kodava bodies here on Monday.

The Codava National Council (CNC), the Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy, the Kodava Education Society and the Kodava Thakk Elthkarada Koota (Kodava writers forum) were among those who put forward their line of arguments and views to accord prominence to Kodava language. Representatives of the bodies appealed to Mr. Sethi to impress upon the Union and State Governments to take steps to accord the linguistic minority status to the Kodavas.

Replying to the demand for including Kodava in the VIII Schedule, Mr. Sethi said such a thing would not bring any merit to the language or win recognition as all independent languages in the country were considered as important. He had taken note of the developments in Tulu, Konkani and Urdu languages by visiting those academies. He had heard from others that Kodava was an ancient and rich language, Mr. Sethi said. However, he would look into the demand to include the language in the Central Sahitya Academy list, he added. Mr. Sethi said as per a Government Order, if the people speaking local language exceed 15 per cent in a particular area, such a language could be considered official along with the State language. Introducing Kodava texts in the school curriculum would not be a difficult proposition, Mr. Sethi said.

Representatives of the Coorg Institute of Technology suggested to Mr. Sethi to initiate steps to accord linguistic minority status to the institute being run by the Kodava Education Society in Ponnampet as most of the students belonged to that group.

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