"Learn Kannada to get promotion and increment"

Hope this idea gets implemented soon and the non-kannada speaking IAS officers in Karnataka will be humbly speaking Kannada. Good job Mukhyamantri Chandru! Need more measures like this.

Fluency in Kannada may become the additional criteria for increment and promotions in state government departments. As part of their efforts towards total implementation of Kannada as the administrative language in the state, the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has mooted this new idea. It has also come out with schemes to provide free study materials and training for candidates writing civil service examinations in Kannada.

Speaking to The Times of India, KDA chairman Mukhyamanthri Chandru said KDA would soon make a rule in this connection and launch a special training programme in October to help officials improve their fluency in Kannada.

Of the 2.5 lakh employees in the administrative section, fluency in Kannada of around one lakh employees, including IAS officers, was poor. Their linguistic skills could be improved with training programmes, he added.

KDA in association with the district administration will conduct training programmes for such officials. Five hundred trainers have been selected for the purpose and training was being imparted at the Kannada University, Hampi, he said.