Enriching life will enrich language, says Siddanagouda Patil

Activist and journalist Siddanagouda Patil has said that if the life of Kannada speaking people is enriched, it will automatically enrich the language as language is not beyond life.

He was delivering a talk on Kannada language and life at a session titled :Kannadavene…” on the second day of Dharwad Zilla Kannada Sahitya Sammelan in Dharwad on Tuesday.

Mr. Siddanagouda Patil, who began his talk by recalling the historical contribution of Dharwad in strengthening Kannada land and language, elaborated on how a protest in Dharwad led to V.K. Gokak submitting a report to the State government on the position of Kannada in Karnataka, which subsequently resulted in the Gokak movement for implementation of the recommendations of the report.

He said that the survival and enrichment of a language is dependent on enrichment of the life of the people speaking that language.

“When the life of Kannadigas becomes beautiful, the language also becomes beautiful and the culture attached to it becomes rich,” he said.

Mr. Patil mentioned about the issue of creation of magnet schools through merger of government schools, which, he said, will automatically lead to the closure of nearly 40,000 schools of a total of 76,000 schools in the State.

“It is a development which will lead to centralisation of education. Everyone should seriously think of the social impact of it,” he said.

He also expressed concern over inviting multi-national companies to invest in the State, which, he said, will affect the lives of Kannadigas as they will be not only losing their farmland but also their source of livelihood.

Speaking on “Children’s literature and newspapers”, general secretary of Karnatak Vidyavardhak Sangha Halagatti expressed concern over the dwindling space for works of children’s literature in newspapers and also about the apathy towards children’s literature.

Emphasising the need for developing reading habit among children in the digital era, Mr. Halagatti said that parents should think twice before giving mobile phones to their children.

“Whether to give and when to give mobile phones should be decided after careful consideration by parents,” he said and added that parents should develop the habit of spending on books for children along with getting them a variety of snacks.

He also highlighted the need for bringing works of children’s literature under the ambit of criticism on a regular basis.

Presiding over the session, the former education officer Shivashankar Hiremath emphasised the need for launching a movement to enforce U.N. resolution on making learning in mother tongue a child’s fundamental right.

Sammelanadhyakshe Hema Pattanashetti and president of Dharwad district unit of Kannada Sahitya Parishat Lingaraj Angadi were present.