Discrimination in allocation of funds for Kannada decried

MYSURU: Karnataka Senapade activists staged a protest against the central government for allegedly delaying in granting autonomous status for the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada.
The protesters gathered near the DC’s office on Friday and raised slogans against the central and the state governments. They said the central government granted the classical status to the 3,000-year old Kannada language only after protests from Kannadigas.“But after granting the classical status, the Centre has completely neglected the language. While it is granting just Rs 1 crore every year for the development of the language, it has given autonomous status to Tamil and set up the Centre Institute of Classical Tamil in Chennai and also granted Rs 50 crore in seven years,” they said.
The government has sanctioned Rs 680 crore in seven years for the development of Sanskrit, which is spoken by just around 28,000 people. Kannada, which is the mother tongue of 6.5 crore population, has got a meagre amount of Rs 8.39 crore, they said.
There is a need for research and academic activities in Kannada language for its development. The central government must immediately release Rs 25 crore for the setting up of the Classical Kannada Studies Centre in University of Mysore premises, they demanded.