KDA chairman rues lack of updated linguistic data leading to growing imbalance in language policy frameworks

Kannada Development Authority Chairman Purushothama Bilimale on Friday, raised concern over the lack of updated linguistic data and the growing imbalance in language policy frameworks.

Kannada Development Authority Chairman Purushothama Bilimale on Friday, raised concern over the lack of updated linguistic data and the growing imbalance in language policy frameworks.

He was delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of a two-day national seminar on “Linguistic Diversity and South Indian Identity“ organised jointly by Kannada University, Hampi, Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy and Alva’s College at Moodbidri.

Mr. Bilimale said discussions on languages continue to rely on outdated statistics. ”In a rapidly evolving world, today’s data becomes obsolete tomorrow, making it difficult to formulate effective language policies.” Citing the 2011 Census, he said India has 19,569 mother tongue languages, while only 22 are included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Of these, 18 belong to North India, while only four were Dravidian languages, reflecting an inherent linguistic imbalance, he argued.

There were structural disparities in language governance. While Hindi was under Home Ministry, other languages were administered by Human Resources Development Ministry. The Parliamentary Committee constituted under Article 344 (4) of the Constitution to examine recommendations of official languages commission often focus on Hindi during implementation thereby raising questions on equality, Mr. Bilimale said.

Highlighting demographic trends and their implications on political representation, Mr. Bilimale referred to studies by the Centre for Policy Research and other institutions. Variations in fertility rates between northern and southern States could significantly alter parliamentary representation following the proposed delimitation exercise in 2028.

While Karnataka’s fertility rate stands at 1.6, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar record rates at 2.9. Based on projected population growth, northern States might gain a substantial increase in Lok Sabha seats, with UP alone witnessing its representation rise from 80 to 128 seats and Bihar from 40 to 70. Karnataka might get eight more while Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh could get three more each. Kerala could see loss of one seat.