It has been over four years now since woman police constable Lata, a native of Davangere, started serving in the city. Earlier, she had problems speaking with people in Tulu fearing rebuke by the locals. With one-month training, Ms. Lata has developed the confidence in not only speaking Tulu but also compose a small poem in the language.
Police constables Umashree, who hails from Hassan district and Manjamma, who is from Ballari district, also share Ms. Lata’s feelings. “This month-long training has helped us not only to converse in Tulu but also in Beary,” said Ms. Umashree. Ms. Majamma thanked the resource persons for effectively training personnel in Tulu and Beary communication.
These three are among the 55 police personnel who have completed their one-month-long training in Tulu and Beary at the office of the Police Commissioner.
A majority of the police personnel working in the city are from North Karnataka and Central Karnataka and efforts are being made to train them in Tulu and Beary. The then Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar took the initiative to train personnel in the two native languages in 2016. Now, Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar has resumed the training programme.
Mr. Kumar said that it is necessary for the personnel to adapt to the region they are posted in by following the language, culture and tradition. This becomes a lot more important for personnel as they need to be closely connected with the local people and curb anti-national activities in the coastal region.
Tulu training was given by Rajesh Kadri and Sudha Nagesh, the two resource person deputed by the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy. Karnataka Beary Sahitya Academy member Shamsheer Budoli and Razak Anantady conducted the Beary training session. The training session was held between 9.30 a.m and 4 p.m. from August 4 to September 5.
Lauding the effort of the personnel in learning the two languages, Mr. Kumar, in his valedictory address on Tuesday, asked the trainees to make good use of their new skill in the policing work. Taking the example of the former Director-General and Inspector-General of Police Ajai Kumar Singh, who did a doctorate in Kannada Vachana Sahitya, Mr. Kumar asked the personnel to take up studies in Tulu literature.
Mr. Kumar said that more personnel will undergo training in the two languages in the coming days.
President of Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy Dayanand Kattalsar asked the trainees to share the language skills they have learnt among their colleagues.
Deputy Commissioners of Police Hariram Shankar, B.P. Dinesh Kumar and Channaveera Hadapad were present.
