Mangaluru: “It is the duty of Kannadiga’s to know Kannada and culture of Karnataka. If we studied about the development of our neighbouring languages then the development of Kannada is possible,” said Dr Tamil Selvam.

He was addressing the first day’s symposium held on the topic of ‘Neighbouring Languages: Making of Tomorrow’ at Alva’s Nudisiri – 2016 on Friday.

“In Tamil Nadu, Tamil is used more than any other languages. Tamil writers translated their books and writings to other languages to spread the essence of Tamil. But Kannada writings are only read by Kannadiga’s. How many Kannada books have translated to other languages? Or what steps have been taken to develop Kannada as a wide spread language?” he questioned.

He further said that to save the Tamil culture and language, the government issues circulars in Tamil only, but in Karnataka the government uses English to issue the circulars. If Kannada gets the support from kannadiga’s like Tamilians support Tamil, then we can expect better tomorrow of Kannada.

Dr Mohan Kuntaru, while speaking about Malayalam said that Kerala government has restricted to open English medium schools to develop the mother tongue. English is used only in work places, not at home.

“The state library council has opened 7500 libraries all over the state. Schools and colleges are organising cultural events to spread knowledge about the culture of Kerala as well as about Malayalam. Even the media also supports for the development of the language. Politicians will be united when it comes to language and culture,” he added.

Alva’s Nudisiri – 2016 President Dr B.N Sumitra Bai and others were present.