Karnataka govt likely to declare Tulu as second official language

Karnataka government may announce Tulu as second official language of the state shortly.

Bengaluru:The Basavraj Bommai-led Karnataka government may declare Tulu as the second official language of the state. With this announcement, the long pending demand of the Tulu speaking people will be fulfilled. State government has constituted a committee to look into the matter.

The Tulu language is being spoken along coastal regions of Karnataka i.e. Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. These regions are geographically called Tulunadu by the residents. Kannada and culture minister V Sunil Kumar has tweeted about the language. In this, he mentioned that in order to announce Tulu as the second language of Karnataka, the department of Kannada language and culture has constituted a committee led by academician Mohan Alva. The committee has been assigned task to study the proposal.

The Alva committee has been asked to submit the report as soon as possible, sources said. The committee is expected to submit their study report within a week. As we know that Tulu speaking people have been demanding their mother tongue to be declared as second official language.

In 2008, then chief minister BS Yediyurappa had assured that he would recommend the Union government to include Tulu in the eighth schedule of the constitution. Even online campaigns were launched to put pressure on the government.