To promote Kannada, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Karnataka government has proposed that companies that do not give first preference to Kannada (a domicile citizen who speaks the language) in jobs will not be eligible for exemptions and incentives.
The resolution has been included in the proposed Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill, which is expected to be introduced and passed in the ongoing monsoon session of the legislature.
“The proposed bill is expected to be tabled in the upcoming cabinet meeting and will be passed,” a senior Karnataka minister confirmed.
Apart from giving importance to the language in education and communication, this draft bill also lays emphasis on teaching speaking and writing Kannada to non-Kannada people working in the state.
in industries
While the public sector is known to follow the quota recommendations and give preference to Kannada people, the private sector has been accused of not doing so. Karnataka’s Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh Nirani has warned of action against industries violating the rules.
“As per a clause in the Industrial Policy of 2020-25, individual units should provide 100% of the jobs in group D and 70% of the total jobs to Kannadigas. According to Dr Sarojini Mahishi’s report, 85% of the jobs in the state should go to Kannada. We will take action if industries violate this clause,” Nirani remarked recently.
Pro-Kannada activists are apprehensive about the bill proposed by the Bommai government. They feel that any case against Kannada’s implementation could fail in court if the bill is not framed in a ‘sustained’ manner.
Arun Javagal, a software engineer who has been pushing for equality for all languages and is also the state organization secretary of Karnataka Raksha Vedike (KRV), said that though several such steps have been taken, the implementation is unsatisfactory.
“If they are planning to make Kannada compulsory, they should do it the right way. It should have a strong legal standing. For example, there was a rule to use Kannada on nameplates. The responsibility of handling this was given to the Karnataka Labor Department. A telecom company filed a case against it and the government lost the case in the courts as it was observed that the labor department had no role in implementing the said rule,” Javagal explained.
“Even now, we are saying that the government should tread carefully and make it effective by ensuring that there are no loopholes. It will be very helpful if done properly. The government should not make it a political move, but they should do so for the prosperity of the people of Karnataka.
Who is Kannada?
So who deserves to be called Kannadiga?
According to the proposed bill, a ‘Kannadiga’ is defined as a person who has been a domiciled citizen for “at least 15 years” and has studied, written and taught Kannada as a language up to class 10th. learned to speak. This is in line with the Sarojini Mahishi Report submitted in 1984, which made 58 recommendations to protect Kannada and Kannadigas.
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The Mahishi report recommended 100% reservation of jobs for Kannada in all public sector units in Group ‘C’ and Group ‘D’ jobs in Central Government and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) operating in Karnataka. It also recommended a certain percentage of jobs to Kannada people in public sector undertakings, private companies and multinationals.
What is proposed in the bill?
TS Nagabharan, chairman of the Kannada Development Authority, spoke to News18 on the importance of the bill, why Kannada people need special attention, and why it has become necessary to enforce the rules.
“This bill empowers the authorities to ensure the implementation of Kannada across the board. Earlier, disciplinary action was taken only against those who did not follow the orders of KDA. But this bill provides for penalties in case of violation, thus making it more effective,” Nagbharan told News18.
Several changes are proposed in the draft bill. Here are some important ones:
- The Bill proposes to use Kannada as the state’s official language for all communications and bills to be introduced in the State Legislature. All ordinances promulgated by the Governor of Karnataka, orders issued by the government, departments, industries and co-operative societies must be in Kannada.
- “It is imperative that all lower courts, state tribunals and quasi-judicial bodies should conduct proceedings and issue orders in Kannada,” the bill said. However, a provision has also been made for the use of English in legal proceedings in the draft bill.
- All nameplates across the state should be in Kannada as well as program brochures and banners of the government and its funded organizations should be printed in the state language.
- The Bill states that emphasis should be laid on teaching ‘Functional Kannada’ to all technical and vocational education students who have not taken Kannada as a subject till Class 10 (SSLC). It also states that students who have not learned Kannada as part of their schooling should be given additional classes to understand “Kannada culture and ethos”.
- If a person applying for a government job does not take Kannada as a first or second language in class 10th, he/she will have to take an equivalent Kannada examination conducted by the State Public Service Commission. eligible. The draft bill further recommends that workshops for teaching Kannada to non-Kannada speakers be organized in all state and central establishments with more than 100 employees.
Redefinition of Kannada by HD Kumaraswamy
In 2019, the HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government had proposed a draft notification to redefine ‘Kannadiga’. It completely did away with the requirement of having Kannada as a subject to pass class 10 and also reduced the period of domicile.
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The effort was to widen the scope of who can claim a job as a Kannadiga under the mandatory quota. The notification was made public for suggestions. However, this move remained in limbo.
Many Kannada activists and organizations opposed the move as they felt that it would not only undermine the recommendations made in the Sarojini Mahishi report, but also reduce the chances of ‘original Kannada’.
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