K'taka minister asks Centre to grant autonomous status to CESCK

New Delhi/Bengaluru: Karnataka minister C T Ravi met Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal on Tuesday, August 18, and demanded autonomous status for the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Kannada.

The CESCK was inaugurated in 2011 at the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) in Mysore.

The state government has already sanctioned three acres of land for construction of a building and temporary office in Mysore University said Ravi, who is the minister for Kannada and culture.

In his representation, Ravi recalled that the Centre had acceded to the Tamil Nadu government”s request immediately and transferred the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) to Chennai with autonomous status.

“This has opened up avenues and opportunities to Tamil research in a big way,” he said. “After it was separated from CIIL, the CICT as an autonomous organization has one a lot of meaningful work.”

Looking at the CICT growth, the Karnataka government has appealed to the Centre to grant autonomous status and release funds for various activities of the CESCK so that it can take up research works and other activities, he added.

Ravi also met several Union ministers during the day.