Preparations are in full swing for the Vishwa Kananda Sammelan to be held in Davangere in December.
The district administration, Kannada Sahitya Parishat and other Kannada organisations, in association with the Kannada and Culture Department, are making necessary arrangements for the same.
A delegation headed by Kannada and Culture Department and Davangere district in-charge Minister S.S. Mallikarjun will soon meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to finalise the dates for the sammelan.
Mr. Mallikarjun, who recently held a series of meetings with officers and other organisations concerned, has decided to organise the sammelan in a grand manner. Since IAS officer Lakshminaraya was deputed as in-charge of sammelan held at Belgavi, the authorities have given the responsibility of organising the sammelan at Davangere.
According to Manjunath Kurki, president, Kannada Sahitya Parishat District, the authorities have already prepared an action plan for the smooth conduct of the sammelan at Davangere. They are mainly concentrating on facilities available in the district and those that can be provided to the participants.
Since participants from Karnataka have attended Vishwa Kannada Sammelan abroad, there are plans to invite members of Kannada organisations from other countries to share their experiences and enlighten people of the State on the culture in the countries in which they stay. “The sammelan will focus on highlighting Kannada culture in the State and also the rich literature of the language,” he added.
Commenting on the dual stand of some litterateurs that the sammelan should not be celebrated in a grand manner owing to successive droughts in the State, Mr. Kurki said that it is a wrong notion that the sammelan should be conducted only in good times.
“It is a festival organised to highlight our culture and the richness of our language. One should not tag the drought issue to the sammelan,” he added.
