Karnataka - Bidar   

`No language can grow in isolation'

Rishikesh Bahadur Desai

There should be understanding between Kannadigas and others, says Shantarasa

Bidar: Efforts to develop Kannada will not bear fruit if the Government and organisations do not promote harmony between Kannadigas and people speaking other languages, President of the 72nd National Kannada Sahitya Sammelan Shantarasa Hemberalu has said.

Chairing an interactive meet of writers with the sammelan president here on Saturday, Mr. Shantarasa said it had been proved that no language could grow in isolation.

"A language grows only when it accepts words from other languages."

Growth of English

The growth of English was an example.

"We can trace the origin of half the number of words in the English dictionary to other languages," Mr. Shantarasa said. Such a transfer of words and ideas from one language to another could happen only if people speaking two languages lived in harmony. If there was no harmony, the growth of the languages would be affected, he said.

Answering a question on the problems faced by Kannadigas in the border areas, Mr. Shantarasa said it was the duty of the governments to take steps to rectify the situation. Kannadigas in border areas should be given all facilities.

There was the danger of they identifying themselves with the neighbouring States, he said. Mr. Shantarasa felt that not much had been done to kill the craze among parents to send their children to English medium schools. This problem arose after parents realised that doctors and engineers earned well and had a position in society. But parents wrongly thought that the best way to get into a medical or engineering college was through an English medium school. The poor quality of education in government Kannada medium schools might be another factor for this. The State Government should improve the quality of education in its schools.

Mr. Shantarasa welcomed a suggestion to organise the sammelan in other States. He observed that the last sammelan held outside the State was in Hyderabad in 1941.

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