Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Feb 19: Mangaluru (south) MLA Vedavyas Kamath, submitted a memorandum to chief minister B S Yediyurappa, and minister for tourism, Kannada and culture C T Ravi, seeking official status for Tulu language, which has been recognized as one of the five Dravidian languages.

Tulu happens to be the mother tongue of most of the people living in coastal Karnataka. A movement has been going on since long, demanding to include Tulu in the eighth schedule of the constitution and also to accord to it the official recognition as an official language of the state. Vedavyasa Kamath , who has been actively campaigning to win the recognition for Tulu, has been doing everything possible to get special status for Tulu.

The MLA said that Tulu has a history of about 2,500 years. He explained that to support the efforts to get a spot for Tulu in the eighth schedule of the constitution, the state government needs to declare Tulu as an official language of the state. "Over 1.5 crore people have adopted Tulu as their language. Tulu has its own script. Poetry in Tulu had been created even before the 14th century," he stated.

Kamath noted that epic history works like Ramayan and Mahabharat were created in Tulu script. He said that thousands of stone edicts, copper edicts, and Palmyra documents are available in coastal Karnataka. "Tulu has been thriving in the coast right from Nileshwar to Ankola, and from the sea in the west to the ghats to the east. The ancient edicts have called this area as Tulu state. Therefore, this is the right time to recognize Tulu as an official language of the state and also bring it under the eighth schedule, and I have convinced the chief minister and minister, Ravi, about these aspects," Kamath said.

Magaluru (north) MLA Dr Y Bharath Shetty, Bantwal MLA Rajesh Naik, and Beltangady MLA Harish Poonja were present.