Bill for Kannada primacy passed in Karnataka Assembly

The Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a Bill to provide reservation to Kannadigas in higher education, linking incentives to industries with jobs for locals among other pro-Kannada measures.

The Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill, which aims at “extensive use and propagation” of Kannada, will now be tabled in the Legislative Council.

Also Read: 'We will rid Karnataka of corruption, make it number one in south India,' says Amit Shah

Enacting the law will cost the government Rs 3.21 crore.

Piloting the Bill, Kannada & Culture Minister V Sunil Kumar said the government’s stand is to give Kannada primacy in all sectors.

“Making Kannada learning mandatory in elementary education is already there. We’re including Kannada in higher education, courts, banks and financial institutions,” Kumar said. “We are also enabling the use of Kannada in IT and software,” he said.

“Totally, in all aspects, we want Kannada usage to increase. It must be implemented in the form of law to see to it that Kannada is used mandatorily,” Kumar explained.

As per the Bill, Kannada will be taught in higher, technical and professional education courses. Also, students who have studied classes 1 to 10 in Kannada medium will have reservation in higher education.

Borrowing from the state’s Industrial Policy 2020-25, the Bill proposes to deny land concessions, tax rebates and other sops to private companies that do not recruit the prescribed percentage of Kannadigas. The Industrial Policy requires companies to provide 70 per cent of jobs to Kannadigas (100 per cent in the case of Group D employees).

Also Read: BJP will win Karnataka on good work, Modi's leadership: Pradhan

The Bill further requires the government to establish an employment portal for government offices, public enterprises and private companies to notify vacancies.

Industries, shops and commercial establishments, which violate the Bill’s provisions, will be fined Rs 5,000-Rs 20,000 including suspension of licence.

The Bill defines Kannadiga as a person residing in Karnataka for not less than 15 years with knowledge of reading and writing Kannada.

According to the Bill, Kannada has been adopted as Karnataka’s official language along with laws such as Karnataka Official Language Act, Karnataka Local Authorities (Official Language) Act, Kannada Development Authorities Act and the Kannada Language Learning Act. “Despite aforesaid enactments, notifications and orders, there is no much (sic) progress in the proper implementation of the official language in the state,” the Bill states.

The Bill says there is “failure” in the implementation and usage of the Kannada language in offices, industries, shops and establishments.