Expressing dissatisfaction over the disinterest the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Kalaburagi had allegedly shown in addressing the issues in the way of implementation of Kannada in governance at a meeting of Kannada Jagruti Samiti (KJS) a few months ago, S.G. Siddaramaiah, chairman, Kannada Development Authority (KDA), said it was the Deputy Commissioner and not his/her deputy, who must convene a meeting of KJS.
“The ADC of Kalaburagi forced KJS members to inordinately wait for the meeting. When he arrived, he treated the members in an objectionable manner. He apparently had no interest in the effective implementation of Kannada in governance,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said, and asked Deputy Commissioner R. Venkatesh Kumar to hold the meeting himself instead of getting it done by the ADC.
“KJS units are formed in all districts. But the sad thing is that a very few of them are functioning properly or having regular meetings. It is mandatory that DCs of every district hold meetings once every three months to oversee the implementation of Kannada in governance,” he said.
Banking woes
Referring to complaints on the poor use of Kannada in the banking sector, Mr. Siddaramaiah asked the DC to ensure that all the bank transactions and communications involving the people were carried out in Kannada.
“As many as 18,000 employees have been recruited by banks in Karnataka between 2015 and 2017 and only a few hundreds of them are Kannadigas. It is because of the restructuring of recruitment rules and procedures in favour of non-Kannadigas. Now, these employees in rural branches have become a problem for locals as they do not communicate in Kannada. They have even published essential transaction materials such as challans in English and Hindi only,” he said.
He also directed the DC to ensure that all communication and banking material involving the public should be printed in Kannada and English.
“Karnataka has adopted a bilingual policy with Kannada and English. Hindi is an optional language for us. It is not right to strike out Kannada to accommodate Hindi bank material. And Hindi is not a national language as some people often wrongly argue. There are 22 official languages and Hindi is one among them,” he said. Mr. Siddaramaiah also directed the DC to ensure that official websites of all government departments have Kannada as their default language and English as an optional language on their home pages.