Siddalingaiah, Kannada poet and president of 81 Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan held in Shravanabelagola, expressed concerns over continued violations of government orders on usage of language in administration in the State.
He was addressing the 82nd Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelan at University of Agricultural Sciences Grounds here on Friday.
“There are 200 government orders that make usage of Kannada language in administration mandatory. Implementing agencies at various levels of the administrative apparatus continue to violate them in their daily functioning. I urge the government to take stringent action against bureaucrats who violate them,” he said.
Pointing at the judicial proceedings most of which were conducted in English, Mr. Siddalingaiah appealed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to make all possible efforts to pressure the Union government and all others concerned to ensure that court proceedings were conducted in the local languages.
“We quarrel in Kannada. When our dispute enters court premises, the lawyers representing the contending parties exchange arguments in English. At the end, the verdict too comes in English. This must end. Local languages should mandatorily be used in court proceedings so that the parties too could understand what is going on,” he said.
Welcoming the State government for its decision to teach English as a language from Class I, Mr. Siddalingaiah argued that medium of instruction in primary education should always be in the child’s mother tongue.
“Children could express themselves better and flourish when they are taught in their own language. Nobody opposes teaching English as a language. English is alien to our culture. It inculcates an alienated culture in our children’s mind,” he said. He also sought legal provisions for punishing those who “insult” the “Kannada flag”.
He thanked the Chief Minister for releasing Rs. 4 crore for organising the literary festival saying that it was the highest amount released by any Chief Minister for the sahitya sammelan.
He also commended Raichur Deputy Commissioner S. Sasikanth Senthil and his team for their relentless hard work to make the prestigious literary festival a success. Soon after his speech, he handed over Kannada Sahithya Parishat flag to Bargur Ramachandrappa, president of this year’s sahitya sammelan.
Mr. Siddaramaiah, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education and Raichur in-charge Tanveer Sait, Minister for Kannada and Culture Umashree, Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Manu Baligar and others were present on stage.
