KDA chairman Purushothama Bilimale advocates two-language policy for the benefit of the people of Karnataka

KDA chairman advocates two-language policy in education for Karnataka's benefit, emphasizing the need for comprehensive language policy.

Shivamogga

Kannada Development Authority (KDA) chairman Prof. Purushothama Bilimale has stressed the need for adopting the two-language policy in education advocated by the great poet Kuvempu for the benefit of people in Karnataka.

In a press conference here on Friday, Mr. Bilimale said Karnataka adopted the three-language policy. As a result, children of the state learned Hindi as a third language.

“We need to study the impact of the three-language policy. The neighbouring Tamil Nadu adopted the two-language policy. They taught Tamil and English to their children. If the two-language policy adopted by Tamil Nadu benefitted the people of that state, we in Karnataka must have suffered because of the three-language policy. There must be a thorough study on this. And, I believe that the two-language policy was better, and Kuvempu, who advocated it, was right,” he said.

Referring to the number of people working in the industrial areas of Delhi and other northern states, Mr. Bilimale said that more than 12 lakh people had been working in the industries spread over Noida, Faridabad, and Gurugram. Among them, around 4.5 lakh people were from Tamil Nadu, while people from Karnataka were few. “Despite having adopted the three-language policy and learning Hindi, our people could hardly secure jobs there. In light of such facts, I believe there is a need for a comprehensive language policy. We at the KDA are working out a policy for the state,” he said.

Kannada study centres

The chairman has said the functioning of Kannada study centres in universities outside Karnataka needs sufficient grants from the State Government. “We are suggesting that the study centres could be active if the government offers a one-time grant of ₹10 crore, and the respective universities could run the centre. The university will earn interest by depositing the amount in a bank. We are hopeful of the government earmarking the amount in the coming budget,” he said.