BOOKS RELEASED: Chairman of the Kannada Development Authority Siddalingaiah releasing Kannada books by different authors in Gulbarga on Thursday.

GULBARGA: Chairman of the Kannada Development Authority Siddalingaiah on Thursday lamented the lack of commitment to protect the culture and language of the State by those at the helm of affairs. This was hampering the efforts of the Government and the authority in introducing Kannada at all levels in the administration, he added.

Inaugurating the Suvarna Karnataka celebrations and releasing 10 books by different authors in Kannada and a special volume on the silver jubilee speeches delivered at different functions in Gulbarga University by the Prasaranga of the university, Dr. Siddalingaiah said it was unfortunate that Kannada organisations had to launch a movement in their own State for giving primacy to the language in administration .

He said tolerance of other languages over the past several years was the main reason for this state of affairs and added that every Kannadiga should be proud about his language .

Tracing the history of Kannada, Dr. Siddalingaiah said Kannada was recognised as one of the ancient languages in the world and there was historical evidence of it being used way back in the 1st century. A 3rd century inscription of King Asoka shows that Kannada words were used and a 7th century Badami inscription highlighted the richness of Kannada and its culture, he added.

Quoting an order issued by the then British government in 1685 asking the Governor of Bombay to use Kannada in the administration along with Portuguese went to prove that Kannada was a major language in areas of Maharashtra at that time.

Registrar S. Rajanna presided over the function. Earlier, the authors of the 10 books were honoured by Dr. Siddalingaiah.

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