60% Kannada on signboards across Karnataka: Language bill tabled in state Assembly

Bengaluru: A bill mandating 60 per cent use of Kannada in signboards of businesses and establishments was tabled in Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

The Kannada Language Comprehensive Development (Amendment) Bill, 2024, amends the 2022 Act.

The amendment is to make a provision to ensure that the name boards of commercial, industrial and business undertakings, trusts, counseling centres, hospitals, laboratories, amusement centres and hotels, among others, functioning with the approval and sanction of the government or local authorities, display 60 per cent in Kannada language.

Kannada shall be displayed in the upper half of the name board, the bill in its statement of objects and reasons said.

The bill also amends the Act to appoint the Director, Directorate of Kannada and Culture as the Member, and the Secretary, Kannada Development Authority to be the Convener of the 'State Level Committee', that will act as an enforcement authority for implementing the official language.

The Karnataka Cabinet on January 5 gave its approval to an ordinance to amend the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act that mandates 60 per cent use of the state's language in signages.

As of now, the law requires the use of Kannada language in the upper half of signboards, displaying the names of businesses.

The government had decided to take the ordinance route in the wake of violent protests by pro-Kannada organisations targeting some businesses and establishments in Bengaluru for not giving prominence to Kannada.

However, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot late last month returned the ordinance to the state government with the advice to present it as a bill before both the Houses of State Legislature for approval, since the notification for summoning both the Houses for session had already been issued.

The Budget session of the Karnataka Legislature, which began on Monday, is scheduled to end on February 23.