CNC submits memorandum on Mother Language Day
Pushes for language recognition, demanding that Codava Thak be declared an official language of Karnataka on par with Konkani, invoking Articles 345 and 347 of the Constitution
Madikeri: The Codava National Council (CNC) marked International Mother Language Day on February 21 by staging a symbolic Sathyagraha in Kodagu and submitting a strongly worded memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The document was routed through the Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu for onward transmission.
This year’s global theme, “Youth Voices on Multilingual Education,” underscores the vital role young people play in safeguarding, revitalising, and leveraging technology to promote linguistic diversity and multilingual learning environments.
The CNC highlighted UNESCO’s long-standing observation of the day (now in its 27th year since its establishment in 1999), and noted that the organisation’s 2026 activities included an online event on February 13 for students aged 13–18 to discuss linguistic diversity. The council pointed out that 40 per cent of learners worldwide still lack access to education in their mother tongue, reinforcing the urgent need for inclusive language policies.
The CNC has commemorated International Mother Language Day annually since the day of its inception by UNESCO and used the occasion to press five core demands. First, it called for the immediate inclusion of the indigenous Codava Thak (Codava language) in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, in line with the recommendations of the Pandit Dr. Sitakant Mohapatra Committee report, and urged its recognition as one of the languages of the United Nations.
The council demanded that Codava Thak be declared an official language of Karnataka on a par with Konkani, invoking Articles 345 and 347 of the Constitution, with full implementation in school curricula and administration as required under Articles 350, 350A, 350B, and 351, read with the provisions of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
It sought the creation of a separate Codavaland geo-political autonomous region under Article 244 and Article 371 in conjunction with the Sixth and Eighth Schedules; the conferment of Scheduled Tribe status on the minuscule micro-minority Codava race; and constitutional protection for the community’s traditional sacrament gun under Articles 25 and 26.
The CNC then asserted that the ethnic identity, folkloric heritage, linguistic ethos, self-respect, and very survival of the indigenous mono-ethnic Animistic Codavas can only be secured through the inclusion of a distinct “Code and Column” in the upcoming 2027 census.
The memorandum concluded by describing Mother, Mother Language, Mother Earth, and Mother Nature as sacred elements in human life across the planet, with the mother tongue standing as “the soul of life.”
