Date:27/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/27/stories/2008072751440500.htm

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Karnataka - Bangalore

KDA against use of English in administration

Special Correspondent

Officials of Women and Child Welfare Department are ‘violators’

‘Dalit staff harassed for using Kannada in correspondence’
‘Secretary ignored repeated requests of KDA’

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Raising the issue: Chairman of KDA ‘Mukhyamantri’ Chandru at the press conference in Bangalore on Saturday.

Bangalore: The Chairman of the Kannada Development Authority and MLC “Mukhyamantri” Chandru has urged Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa to take stringent action against three top officials of the Department of Women and Child Welfare, who have reportedly violated the rules pertaining to the implementation of Kannada in administration.

Mr. Chandru told presspersons here on Saturday that Secretary of the Department Shalini Rajneesh, Director Ekroop Caur and the Deputy Director M.N. Premakumari had violated the rule by using English in place of Kannada. They had also exhibited the “audacity” of instructing subordinate employees against the use of Kannada numerals in departmental correspondence.

Despite repeated requests Dr. Rajneesh had ignored the KDA and continued inter-departmental correspondence in English. “One such correspondence dated January, 23, 2008, will stand testimony to the plight of Kannada in administration.

Mr. Chandru said that a Dalit employee in the department (E.B.P. Martin), who had been subjected to harassment for the “sin” of using Kannada in his official correspondence, had drawn the KDA’s attention towards the department’s “antipathy” towards Kannada. He said that Mr. Martin, in his complaint to the KDA on July 24, revealed the contempt shown by Dr. Caur and Ms. Premakumari to not merely use Kannada but also showing contempt for the people who work for the cause of Kannada in the Government and elsewhere. According to Mr. Chandru, Mr. Martin said that Dr. Caur took objection to his pro-Kannada stance and asked for an explanation.

In Mr. Chandru’s opinion “passing comments against two persons dedicated for the cause of Kannada could be ignored. But comments on the august body instituted for the development of Kannada and the plight of the State language at the hands of such officials deserves the attention of the legislature and public”. He said that he would move a privilege motion against Dr. Caur and Ms. Premakumari in the Legislative Council in his capacity as MLC on Monday. And that he would take the issue to its logical end in public, official and legal forums in the larger interest of Kannada in the administration.