The Gokak agitation ( kn, ಗೋಕಾಕ್ ಚಳುವಳಿ) was a successful

language rights Linguistic rights are the human and civil rights concerning the individual and collective right to choose the language or languages for communication in a private or public atmosphere. Other parameters for analyzing linguistic rights include the ...

agitation in the 1980s that fought for the first-language status of the

Kannada language Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native ...

in the South

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. It was named after the committee headed by

Vinayaka Krishna Gokak Vinayaka Krishna Gokak (9 August 1909 – 28 April 1992), abbreviated in Kannada as Vi. Kru. Gokak, was an Indian historian and writer in the Kannada language and a scholar of English and Kannada literatures. He was the fifth writer to be hon ...

, which recommended giving primacy to Kannada in state schools.

Three language formula and opposition

Karnataka had adopted the

three language formula The three-language formula is a language learning policy first formulated in 1968 by the Ministry of Education of the Government of India in consultation with the states. History The first recommendation for a three-language policy was made by the ...

for education in schools since the linguistic reorganization of states in 1956. Strong opposition to

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

was witnessed in the 1960s and '70s, leading to Kannada speakers leaning towards English. This created a wide incompatibility between languages used for state administration and education in Karnataka. Sanskrit was the first language at the time in Karnataka high schools, making the state language, Kannada, the third choice, with no requirement that students learn the language spoken by the majority population in high school. Matters came to a head after a series of changes to the statuses of the various languages. D. Devaraj Urs, chiefminister of the state from 1972 to 1977 and 1978–80, moved Kannada (and other languages) to the first and second language groups, and Sanskrit to the third; when he lost power, in 1980, R. Gundu Rao moved Sanskrit back to the first. The result was widespread protests, and Rao's government set up a committee, headed by

. The committee published its report in January 1981, and its recommendations included that Sanskrit not be included as a first language, and that Kannada be the only first language taught at the high school level, and that it be mandatory after Class 3 in primary education. A popular uprising supported the conclusions of the report, with actor Rajkumar assuming a leading position. Seven people were killed by police during the protests, but the popular pressure made the government yield and adopt the committee's recommendations. Many groups from backwards castes supported the agitation, while the middle and upper classes were ambivalent: "They wanted English medium schools for their children but at the same time wanted Karnataka and the Kannada language as an emotional succour". "Prolonged agitation" by those who favored Kannada led to a decision by the Karnataka government in 1982 to accord "first language" status to Kannada, and make its teaching mandatory in primary schools. The order was challenged by linguistic minorities and their educational institutions; the state's High Court struck the order down in 1989.

References

External links

N.C. Gundu Rao, "Rewind and replay: Reflections on the Gokak agitation", ''Deccan Herald'', 30 November 2004
Kannada language Language conflict in India 1980 in India Protests in India

Three language formula and opposition

See also

References

Further reading

External links