Centre for classical Kannada shifted to new premises

Mysuru: After 12 years since Kannada got classical language status, Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada (CESCK) here got its own building on the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava on Sunday.

The CESCK is now housed in a building located in 4.2 acres of land given by University of Mysuru, on lease for a period of 30 years. The centre was earlier housed in Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) building and later shifted to another small building given by University of Mysuru. CIIL has sent proposal to the Centre for funds to build their own building for the centre in the new land.

While Kannada was accorded classical language status in 2008, it was only in 2011, in order to facilitate research related to the language, the CESCK was established at CIIL. CESCK has been receiving Rs 1 crore per year for research work and salary of staff from the Union government since 2011. Due to lack of adequate infrastructure they have not been able to take up any research worth the name on Kannada, according to CIIL sources.

Participating virtually in the inaugural ceremony of the new building of the centre and also Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations of CIIL, noted litterateur and Jnanapeeta awardee Dr Chandrashekar Kambar, said, "English has now been perceived as language to earn livelihood. Kannada has its own identity and it will have its own identity.

While our software experts from Bengaluru are helping Russians and Chinese in preserving their languages, the centre of excellence should use the expertise of those experts too to develop a common medium where we could communicate our ideas in our own language, and others can communicate their ideas in their languages. All the universities should join hands with the centre in efforts to preserve and develop our Kannada language," he said.

University of Mysuru (UoM) Vice Chancellor Hemanth Kumar who also participated in the event virtually said, "We need a new generation of Kannada scholars to preserve our language. Post-graduates and research scholars in Kannada who are coming out of universities should be involved in the centre of excellence for preserving and developing our language.

UoM has approved to give certificates to short-term courses in Kannada offered by AKKA (Associations of Kannada Kootas of America) and another organization at North America. Syllabus has been approved by UoM, teachers associated with those organizations will conduct courses there itself, the students will only pay exam fees to UoM and UoM will issue certificates", he said.

C G Venkteshmurthy, director of CIIL said, "We have plans to introduce our rich treasure on Kannada literature, music, drama and others to youth and make them feel proud of their roots through the centre of excellence."

Kannada development board president and noted film maker T S Nagabharana too participated in the event virtually.