Jnanpith awardee Chandrashakher Kambar has called upon both Kannada and other linguistic communities to strive to preserve their language and cultural traits, instead of being confrontational, given that several indigenous languages were dying slow death due to growing obsession with English language in India.
Speaking at an award presentation ceremony of Nadoja Pratisthana here on Sunday, he said language and culture enjoyed close relationships and were complimentary to each other, which linguistic communities should realise. India was linguistically a rich country with more than 1,600 languages spoken in different parts of the country.
But, three to four languages were becoming extinct under the growing influence of English.
Languages destroyed
As per the census, nearly 800 languages have been destroyed. Such being the case, Kannada and Marathi linguistic communities need to work towards strengthening their language and preserve it for posterity, he said.
On the occasion, former Additional Director General of Police K. Narayan, eye specialist S.B. Kulkarni, teacher and writer Pundalik Patil, and teacher Jayashree Bhagoji were presented Nadoja Pratisthana awards for their contribution in their chosen fields.
