Tulu Language : Demand For Official Status
Source : Indian Express
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Why in News ?

Various organisations initiated a Twitter campaign demanding official language status to Tulu in Karnataka and Kerala.

• It received an overwhelming response with More than 2.5 lakh people tweeted in support of the campaign

About Tulu Language

• Tulu is a Dravidian language spoken mainly in two coastal districts Dakshina Kannada and Udupi of Karnataka and Kasaragod district of Kerala.
• As per the 2011 Census report there are 18,46,427 Tulu-speaking people in India.
• Some scholars suggest Tulu is among the earliest Dravidian languages with a history of 2000 years.
• Robert Caldwell (1814-1891), in his book A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages, called Tulu one of the most highly developed languages of the Dravidian family.
• Tulu has a rich oral literature tradition with folk-song forms like paddana, and traditional folk theatre yakshagana.

Key Facts on Tulu Language : Demand For Official Status

• Tulu speakers, mainly in Karnataka and Kerala, have been requesting the governments to give it official language status.
• People who speak Tulu are confined to the above-mentioned regions of Karnataka and Kerala, informally known as Tulu Nadu.
• Efforts are being made to include Tulu in the eighth schedule of the Constitution and if included in the eighth schedule, Tulu would get recognition from the Sahitya Akademi.
• Karnataka government introduced Tulu as a language in schools a few years ago.
• Jai Tulunad conducted an online campaign demanding to include Tulu in the new National Education Policy (NEP).

Official Language

• Official language status include it in the eighth schedule to the Constitution.
• 22 languages presently in the eighth schedule to the Constitution
  • Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
• Of these languages 14 were initially included in the Constitution.

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