Karnataka - Bangalore   

KBA submits report of its work to Government

BANGALORE: The Kannada Book Authority (KBA) has set a precedent by submitting a comprehensive report “Avalokana” to the Government on all its activities.

Releasing copies of the report on the last day of the authority’s tenure here on Monday, its chairman S.G. Siddaramaiah told presspersons that the report was not merely a note of what the KBA had done in the last three years, but also a document of its “accountability” to the public.

The KBA received an annual grant of Rs. 23 lakh. Besides, it received additional grants of Rs. 90 lakh, special grants towards Suvarna Karnataka book purchase, fresh projects and establishing sales counters at the district level.

It received a total grant of Rs. 36,46,049 for book publication and used Rs. 32,94,333 for publishing 139 titles, including 11 volumes on native agriculture and 21 volumes of the status quo study report on nomadic communities across the State.

It saved Rs. 89.5 lakh for the continuation of the existing programmes and the new ones to be envisaged by the new KBA, Prof. Siddaramaiah explained.

Referring to the “bold” steps the KBA took despite criticism that it was not competent to foray into agricultural and anthropological areas, Prof. Siddaramaiah said the Government-sponsored academies and authorities should look into the possibilities of exploring new cultural studies instead of confining to organising seminars on literary issues and publishing literary works.

On the relevance of KBA publishing 11 volumes on “desi” agriculture, Prof. Siddaramaiah said the objective of the project was to protect rural-based professional knowledge and understand and encourage the talent of people who worked in agricultural fields. The study was conducted with focus on the role of nature in “desi” agriculture in the face of the increasing influence of mechanised agriculture and its adverse impact on ecology and quality of agricultural commodities.

On the other hand, the study of nomadic communities was conducted to redefine its outlook with sociological and economic perspectives.

It was the responsibility of all those concerned to embark on such apolitical cultural studies in the absence of Government sponsored autonomous academic agencies, Prof. Siddaramaiah argued.

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