Minister for Kannada and Culture C.T. Ravi has urged the Union government to expedite the process of granting autonomous status to the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada (CESK).
CESK was established in 2011 and functions under the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), but Kannada writers and activists have averred that lack of autonomy status has hindered the growth of the centre. Recently, around 20 prominent Kannada littérateurs urged the State government to secure autonomy for CESK so as to expedite research and academic work. Mr. Ravi had also expressed his indignation over the lack of progress in Kannada compared to the work of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) in Chennai.
In his letter, he said though Government of India accorded classical language status to Kannada in 2008, CESK was established after three years in 2011. Later on, the Policy-cum-Monitoring Board was constituted by HRD Ministry after four years, while the project director was appointed recently, he said, pointing out that autonomy for CESK was the demand of all writers and Kannada activists.
Mr. Ravi’s letter to Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Minister for Human Resource Development, pointed out that when a demand was made for transferring CICT to Chennai, the request was conceded “immediately”. “MHRD provided a full-fledged office building at a cost of ₹76 crore, opening up avenues and opportunities for Tamil research in a big way,” he added.
After its separation from CIIL, CICT as an autonomous organisation did much meaningful work. Pro-Kannada organisations and writers who noticed this have appealed for autonomous status for CESK, said Mr. Ravi.
The University of Mysore has sanctioned three acres of land for the construction of a temporary office for the classical Kannada centre, said Mr. Ravi. The establishment of Central Institute of Classical Kannada as an autonomous institute would be a landmark in the preservation of Indian heritage, the letter added.