BENGALURU:After after insisting that banks, Public Sector Undertakings, and central government offices adopt Kannada, the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) is now insisting that the Administrative Training Institute (ATI) — that gives orientation and training to bureaucrats — also embrace the language.
Located in Mysuru, ATI is a training institute working under the state government that conducts foundation courses for gazetted probationers of the State Civil Services and refresher courses for senior officers. Right from financial management to legal issues, many courses are conducted on a regular basis here. At the ATI, IAS, IPS and IFS officers posted to Karnataka cadre from other states, undergo four months Kannada crash course initially.
Currently, almost all training is given in English. “We are not against English. In Karnataka, Kannada should be given priority. We can understand about IAS or IPS cadre officers, but they give training in English to state government employees as well. We had convened a meeting with ATI authorities a couple of days ago and insisted that they use more Kannada at their institute,’’ Kannada Development Authority Chairman S G Siddaramaiah told The New Indian Express.
According to Siddaramaiah, many first division assistant and second division assistants are get trained here. “Even for them, training, including material will be in English. These officials will work at taluk and panchayat level. How will English help them? That is why we are insisting that Kannada be made compulsory for all officials, including IAS officers,’’ he added.
A senior KAS officer said, “Sometimes, they give training in Kannada as well as English. But when it comes to power point presentations or other technical classes, it is in English. It is better if it is also in Kannada. At lower levels of administration Kannada is used more. For instance, at the Revenue Department, many terms like Pahani, Patta and Khaata are used everyday. If training is given in English, it makes no sense for these officials in rural areas as they deal with locals only in Kannada. It is a welcome move.”
Another issue taken up by the KDA is that of the ATI website being solely in English. Most of the government office websites in Karnataka use dual language — Kannada and English. KDA also insisted that the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) use Kannada in their day-to-day activities, including website. “ISEC authorities always claim they are a Central government organisation. But in reality, the state share is 61% and Union government share is 39%. We insist on Kannada usage here as well,’’ Siddaramaiah said. For the same, he said that he has met Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and sought his intervention. “The CM has responded positively,’’ he said.