Udupi: MLA Bhat launches Tulu font ‘Mandara;’ announces all MLAs from Udupi, DK will speak in Tulu in Assembly

Udupi: MLA Raghupathi Bhat on Monday launched the new font for the Tulu script called Mandara and announced that all MLAs from the Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts will be speaking in the Tulu language in the Legislative Assembly in the winter session.

“The Mandara font developed by Prahlad Tantry by his individual effort and is adaptable to computers,” Bhat said.

It was reported that the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy will request the State government to release the Madara font in the Unicode format so that it can be used extensively on the Internet.

Bhat said that in the past MLAs could not speak in the Tulu language in the Assembly as there were no stenographers who knew the language to transcribe their speeches.

“However, now Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has started the procedure to appoint Tulu-speaking stenographers and is also a supporter of making Tulu an official language,” Bhat added.