Karnataka govt tables Bill in Assembly to grant Kannadigas reservation in education, jobs

Karnataka govt on Thursday introduced a bill in Assembly providing reservations for Kannadigas in higher education.

Paving the way for the development of Kannadigas, the Karnataka government on Thursday introduced a bill in the Assembly providing reservations for them in higher education. The bill includes quotas for educational courses, linking incentives and grants to industries for locals.

As per the bill, a Kannadiga will be any person or his parents or, in their absence, legal guardians who ordinarily reside in Karnataka for not less than 15 years. They are also required to have knowledge of writing and speaking the language, Kannada.

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Kannada and Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar tabled the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill, which aims at “extensive use and propagation” of the language. As per the Bill, Kannada will be taught in higher, technical and professional education courses.

"The Kannada Language has been introduced as one of the language subjects in schools but there is no proper provision for learning of Kannada language in the higher or technical or professional education," the bill states.

Also, students who studied from classes 1 to 10 in Kannada medium school will be eligible to avail of this reservation in their higher education. The same is applicable to students who studied in Kannada medium in Karnataka or in Kannada Medium schools in other states.

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