Karnataka bids for Tulu as 2nd official language

With this, the long-pending demand of the Tulu-speaking population is expected to come true. A committee has been constituted to look into it.

BENGALURU:  The Karnataka government is making an attempt to announce Tulu as the second official language of the state. With this, the long-pending demand of the Tulu-speaking population is expected to come true. A committee has been constituted to look into it.

Tulu is spoken along coastal Karnataka, in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, and these places are geographically called Tulunadu by locals. Kannada and Culture Minister Sunil Kumar tweeted that in order to announce Tulu as the second official language of Karnataka, the Department of Kannada and Culture has constituted a committee headed by academician Mohan Alva to study the proposal.

The committee is expected to submit its report within a week. The Tulu speaking populace has been demanding official language status. In fact when BS Yediyurappa was chief minister in 2008, he had assured that it would be recommended to the Union government, and it was included in Tulu language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Online campaigns were launched, demanding official status to the language.

Minister Sunil Kumar, who is also from Udupi, tweeted about the government’s stand on Tulu language, and netizens started demanding official status to Byari, Koraga, Kodava and other languages.