Autonomous status for Classical Kannada centre soon

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani on Monday said the Centre will take all steps to grant autonomous status to Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada (CESCK) at the earliest.

After meeting a delegation comprising Union ministers and Members of Parliament from Karnataka, Kannada writers and activists, the minister told reporters that as the ministry had to follow certain norms before granting autonomous status to the CESCK, all actions were being taken to meet the demand at the earliest.

On the demand for shifting of CESCK from Mysuru to Bengaluru, she said though the Karnataka government had sanctioned 3 acres land at Bengaluru University to build permanent campus for organisation, the ministry has asked the Karnataka government to provide temporary accommodation to house the body in the IT city till it gets permanent structure. She also assured of releasing adequate grants for the building and research activities.

The Centre had accorded classical language status to Kannada in 2008 and the CESCK was set up in the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, with a plan to translate classical Kannada texts into other Indian languages, English and select European languages. The CESCK has agreed to shift the institution from Mysuru to Bengaluru as desired by the Karnataka government.

Union Law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Chemical and Fertilizer Minister Ananth Kumar, Minister of State for Heavy Industries G M Siddeshwara, BJP Karnataka unit president B S Yeddyurappa, MPs Shiva Kumar Udasi, Ramesh Jigajinagi and Shobha Karandlaje, Kannada Development Authority Chairman L Hanumanthaiah, scholar M Chidananda Murthy, Kannada Sahitya Parishat president Manu Baligar and Kannada activist R N Chandrashekar were present.