Karnataka - Bangalore   

Language policy: Chandru favours Ordinance

BANGALORE: Kannada Development Authority (KDA) chairman “Mukhyamantri” Chandru on Monday appealed to the Government to consider promulgating an Ordinance to protect the primary education language policy of the State in the wake of the recent verdict of the Karnataka High Court.

He told presspersons on the sidelines of a function, organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party Cultural Wing, that he would suggest to the Government (at a meeting of the experts convened on Tuesday) to discuss the steps to be taken by it with regard to the language policy.

“There is a dire need to protect the language policy of the State”.

The KDA chief suggested to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa not to provide postings to civil servants who could not speak Kannada, particularly to posts requiring direct and frequent communication with the public.

Such officials could be shifted to some other posts so that there was no problem in dissemination of information.

He said he would study the legal aspects of implementing the Sarojini Mahishi report, which had recommended reservation in jobs to Kannadigas even in private firms. Discussions would be held with the departments of Labour, Law and Finance to know if it was possible to amend the rules to make it mandatory for private firms to employ Kannadigas.

“Why should private firms, which take benefits such as concessions in tax and stamp duty and allotment of land from the Karnataka Government, not give jobs to Kannadigas?”

On the norms related to according prominence to Kannada in name boards of shops and commercial establishments, Mr. Chandru said he was planning to introduce new rules to provide for cancellation of licences of shops that did not follow the Kannada name board norms. Discussions were on with legal experts in this regard. However, the cancellation could be done for the repeated failure to comply with norms even after imposing penalty, he noted.

Mr. Chandru reiterated that he would conduct surprise inspections of government offices and organisations to know if the officials concerned were effectively implementing Kannada as administrative language.

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