The plan of Karnataka government to set up Kannada Peetha (Kannada Study Chair) in country’s premier institution, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has finally taken shape with the government releasing Rs.43 lakh for the purpose.
K.A. Dayanand, Director Kannada and Culture told The Hindu that, funds would be released to JNU, immediately after getting “commitment letter” from the University. University would spend Rs.20 lakh for creating basic infrastructure facility and rest of the money for conducting activities, he added.
Though the plan of setting up of Kannada Study Chair commenced eight years ago, there was no breakthrough, as University was bent upon seeking a corpus of Rs. 8 crore. But the government could not meet the demand because of the technical hurdles. Finally, University agreed for the government proposal of making the Kannada Study Chair functional with annual grant of Rs. 43 lakh, Mr. Dayanand explained.
A release from the JNU said setting up of Chair will help in research and development of Kannada. Besides study of Kannada language, Centre would facilitate in-depth research on culture and art of the region, release added.
Meanwhile, the government was keen on setting up Kannada Study Chairs in few universities of Germany. Recently Vice-Chancellor, Munich University was in Bengaluru and had expressed interest in setting up Chair, he noted.
