Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 19: President of Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, Dr Paltady Ramakrishna Achar, expressed his disappointment at the lacklustre stance owned by the central government on the issue of including Tulu in the eighth schedule of the constitution. He was speaking at a press conference held in the city on Friday March 18.

Reacting to a letter written to the state government by the union government, saying that it cannot commit itself to any specific time frame in the matter of including Tulu language in the eighth schedule, he recollected that the recommendation for the same had initially been sent when S M Krishna was the Chief Minister of the state, and that the proposal had been mooted by former Chief Minister, Veerappa Moily. He said he expected the dreams of winning recognition to Tulu would materialize at least now, when both of these leaders are ministers at the centre.

Paltady said he is concerned about the hesitation of the concerned in including Tulu in the eighth schedule of the constitution, although it satisfies all the criteria. He demanded a minimum of a crore of rupees as annual grant towards the development of Tulu language from out of Unesco funds, and additional funds from Bhasha Samsthan funds.

He added that Tulu was introduced as the third language for the sixth standard in 538 schools last year, and that the process of posting people who have completed Tulu diploma courses as Tulu teachers is on. He also said that the Academy has approached the government for developing Bendr Teertha into a tourist centre, and that the government has responded favourably.