A gathering of people at the Lit Festival in Mangaluru on Friday. | Photo Credit: H.S. MANJUNATH
Rather than the Government, it is the private institutions that should take up the task of protecting art, culture and language, said Indologist and Sanskrit scholar R. Ganesh here on Friday.
In the inaugural sesssion of the fourth edition of Mangaluru Lit Fest organised by Bharat Foundation, Mr. Ganesh said that it is difficult for government bodies to take up the work of protection and promotion of art, culture and language. “They have their own compulsions where preference goes for persons from a caste, community and other considerations,” he said.
Stating that universities and language academies of the government are doing little to highlight the richness of Kannada, Mr. Ganesh said that some of the works of Kannada have been turned down on the ground of imposition of Brahminical order. “Such narrow mindedness cannot be accepted,” he said and added that “Justice with any prefix is injustice.”
Mr. Ganesh said that some private bodies are already supporting works related to Kannada.
Man’s creation
Stating that language and technology are a creation of man, K.P. Rao, who brought Kannada into computers, said that technology has been helping in the development of Indian languages. “We are not in a position to say no to Internet. Technology is here to facilitate our lives,” he said while addressing a session on “Language and Technology”.
In the session on “Redefining contours: Russia and Ukraine crisis-India Perspective”, Dattesh D. Parulekar, Assistant Professor, School of International and Area Studies, Goa University, said that India’s neutral stand in the Russia-Ukraine war showed the way the country is emerging as a strong nation. By standing firm on buying fuel from Russia, India has given prominence to protection of the country’s food security and industrial security, he said.
In the session on “Oodu Kashira – Tili Kashmira”, writer Chandrashekar Damle said that the novel, Kashira of Sahana Vijaykumar, which is based on real life incidents, helps in better understanding of Kashmir. “Novels based on real life incidents appeal to a wider audience,” he said.
