Bidar: The State Government has declared that it will fight Maharashtra's demands to transfer border cities such as Belgaum and Bidar to it. But it does not seem to show commitment to the cause of developing Kannada in border districts.

Kannada activists feel that the Government's apathy towards the language may strengthen the sense of alienation among Kannadigas. Lack of commitment by people's representatives and the indifference of officials are glaring.

Funds lapsed

While other districts such as Bijapur have organised cultural fairs such as "Zilla Utsava", funds meant for such programmes in Bidar have lapsed for eight years in a row. It has been a decade since tableaux from Bidar were seen in the Mysore Dasara procession. No artist from Bidar has participated in the Mysore Dasara or the Hampi Utsav since 2000.

There has been very e representation of artistes or writers from the district in the State-level cultural academies. Of the 154 members in 11 academies, only two are from Bidar. And these are Ikram Bagh of the Urdu Academy and A.G. Hiremath of the Laliltha Kala Academy. Kannada lovers say these are institutions that are not directly related to the development of Kannada.

The plight of language can very well be assessed in the light of the fact that very few bookstalls sold Kannada literary works. Last year, Samabandha, a Bidar-based non-governmental organisation wanted to gift books as prizes to winners of a school quiz. The organisers were forced to go to Hyderabad.

Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Chandrashekar Patil had promised the people that the parishat would set up a Kannada bookshop and a reading room in Bidar at a cost of Rs. 50 lakh. This money, he said, would be saved from the cost of organising the 72nd National Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Bidar. The sahitya parishat spent Rs. 1.45 crore in organising the sammelan, but it seems to have forgotten its promise.

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