As part of the International Mother-tongue Day tomorrow, volunteers of the Codava National Council (CNC) will be staging a satyagraha at the Fort premises in Madikeri tomorrow morning demanding the incorporation of Kodava Thakk (dialect) in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.

CNC President N.U. Nachappa, who submitted a memorandum to the ADC Dr. Shivashankar in Madikeri recently, demanded that the Central Government must give effect to the theme enshrined Articles 51 (a), 347 and 350 (B) regarding the protection of Kodava cultural identity and heritage markers and implementation of Kodava Thakk in the administration and in the curriculum as a 3rd language.

In the backdrop of the 80th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana to be held in Kodagu, as per a resolution adopted in the recently concluded 79th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana at Bijapur to rename Bijapur as Vijayapura with an intention to restore the ancient name of the place, Nachappa said that the names of many places in Kodagu must be reverted to the original ancient names.

“Let not the Kodavas be treated akin to the Kalaberi dancing communities of Rajasthan who are known to dance before tourists and entertain them,” said Nachappa and added, “Let not the so-called Kannada protagonists, intellectuals and the government think that Karnataka is a homogeneous State, but instead understand that it certainly is a heterogeneous State and Kodava race, Kodava heritage and Kodava Thakk are but an inseparable part and parcel of the same.”

“The UNO, in its 2009 development report, has included Kodava Thakk to be one of the 196 most endangered languages spoken in the world,” he said and asked what steps the State Government has taken to revitalise Kodava Thakk as suggested by UNO?

Courtesy : Star Of Mysore