Karnataka cabinet approves 60% Kannada language rule on sign boards

The Kannada Language Comprehensive Development (Amendment) ordinance was okayed by the cabinet in their recent meeting.

Days after the raging language row in Karnataka, the cabinet on Friday okayed an ordinance that enforces 60 per cent Kannada language on sign boards of shops, enterprises, institutions and other places.

A signboard of a business establishment after being vandalised by the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike members in Bengaluru.(PTI)

The Kannada Language Comprehensive Development (Amendment) ordinance ensures that all sign boards and nameplates of commercial establishments, industries, hospitals and organisations will have to have 60 per cent Kannada language.

The language row took shape recently in Bengaluru and some other places across the state, wherein pro-Kannada group, the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), held violent protests and vandalised properties in markets and business areas, especially attacking and damaging sign boards with majority writing in languages other than Kannada.

Visuals of the group members blackening name plates and running riot in the city went viral. They specifically also targeted the newly opened Phoenix Mall of Asia, which has been directed to be shut down till January 15, for traffic-related reasons.

Karnataka Rakshana Vedika president TN Narayan Gowda said the group's intention was to hold an “awareness rally” about the 60% Kannada rule.

Here are some other decisions hat the cabinet has taken in its most recent meeting:

1. It increased the upper age limit of eligible candidates who are interested in taking the competitive exams by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) by three years.
2. The cabinet also gave a green signal to the ₹45 crore Chamundeshwari Temple Development Scheme under the Central government scheme Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (Prasad).
3. Ministers even waived off ₹581.47 crore worth Motor Vehicle Tax given by all four state-run transport corporations including the KSRTC and the BMTC.
4. As many as 43 development works worth ₹800 crore have also been approved in Bengaluru city by its civic agency, the BBMP.

(With PTI inputs)