Significance of Tulu Language in India

Significance of Tulu Language in India

Subject : Culture

Context : Recently, various organisations initiated a Twitter campaign demanding official language status to Tulu in Karnataka and Kerala and received an overwhelming response.

Concept :

About Tulu Language

• Tulu is a Dravidian language.
• It is 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.
• It has a rich oral literature tradition with folk-song forms like paddana, and traditional folk theatre yakshagana.
• It has an active tradition of cinema with around 5 to 7 Tulu language movies produced a year.

Present status of Tulu language

• According to Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy president Dayananda G Kathalsar, people who speak Tulu are confined to the above-mentioned regions of Karnataka and Kerala.
• They are informally known as Tulu Nadu.
• Tulu is not an official language in the country.
• If included in the eighth schedule, Tulu would get recognition from the Sahitya Akademi.