Photographs by Rajesh Shetty, Team Mangalorean
Report by Team Mangalorean

Mangalore, Sept 6: The state will witness one of the largest language based conferences after Kannada Sahitya Sammelana. The four day Tulu world conference will be held in Dakshina Kannada in various places. The inaugural ceremony will be held in Ujire near Dharmasthala while, many other programms will be held all over the district.

In a preliminary meeting held here Dharmadhikari of Dharmasthala Dr. Veerendra Heggade said that the conference had a great significance in the light of a report by UNESCO that Tulu, one of the oldest Dravidian languages could be extinct in 50 years and efforts are needed to protect the language and its culture.
Seeking 'Rajashraya' Dr. Heggade said the state needs to help Tulu language to survive for the benefit of posterity.

The meeting was attended by state minister for Home Dr. V.S. Acharya and Mr. Krishna Palemar state minister Environment and Ecology.  Dr. Heggade said the conference would require timely intervention from the state at various stages to ensure success of the event. The most basic of help that Heggade sought was steps to repair the roads in the district, additional buses, holidays for educational institutions and financial assistance for the meet.

An announcement by lexicographer Heranje Krishna Bhat that the six volumes of Tulu lexicon compiled by him would be made available on the Internet free in time for the meet was met with warm applause. "The lexicon runs in to 3,360 pages and a group of students from M G M College, Udupi are on the job of hosting this on the Internet," he said adding that the group has so far compiled nearly 30 pages for the Net edition.
 
The special attraction of the conference will be the display of the jewelry of Krisha temple of Udupi on November 21.  Mr. Krishna Bhat said the swamiji of Puthige Math had agreed to a proposal to display the same in the precincts of the Temple. "Bringing them out of the Math would pose a serious logistical and security challenge for all concerned," Bhat observed.

Dr.  Acharya who agreed to the demands of the organising committee said that the state would be able to give nearly a crore of rupees for the Tulu conference.  Acknowledging the demands placed before the state government through the ministers said the government would not be found wanting in addressing the same on a priority basis.  Efforts would be made to release Rs 1 crore out of the estimated Rs 3 crore, expenditure for the meet, he said.  Steps to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution and release a postal cover and stamp too would be addressed, he said.