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<header class="entry-header entry-header-01"><h1 class="gmail-g1-giga gmail-g1-giga-1st entry-title">Railways Gives Vernacular Languages Their Due, To Print Tickets in Kannada!</h1>
<h2 class="entry-subtitle gmail-g1-gamma gmail-g1-gamma-3rd">Karnataka isn’t the only state demanding a larger slice of the official discourse for their local vernacular.</h2>
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<strong>Rinchen Norbu Wangchuk</strong>
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<time class="entry-date" datetime="2018-03-03T15:07:03">March 3, 2018, 3:07 pm</time> </span>
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<p><span style="font-size:42px;color:rgb(157,23,23)">I</span>n addition to
English and Hindi, railway tickets are going to be printed in Kannada.
This move by officials from the South Western Railways will placate
Kannada language activists, who have sought this move for quite some
time.</p>
<p>It is important to note that this measure comes after the Indian
Railways passenger amenities committee had passed a proposal to print
tickets in the local language, besides English and Hindi from the start
of this year.</p>
<p>Despite this development, the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/railway-tickets-in-kannada-soon/articleshow/63115562.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Times of India</a>
reported that tickets printed in Kannada will be up for sale only at
station counters, while online provisions for the same are yet to be
made. Meanwhile, unreserved tickets with information in Kannada will be
available in computerized reservation counters in the city of Bengaluru,
reported the publication.</p>
<h2>Suffice it to say, Karnataka isn’t the only southern state demanding
a larger slice of the official discourse for their local vernacular.
Even the likes of Tamil Nadu are pushing for the availability of
official forms in Tamil, and are gunning for a two-language policy that
includes English and their local vernacular over Hindi.</h2>
<figure id="gmail-attachment_133109" style="max-width:1200px" class="gmail-wp-caption gmail-alignnone"><img class="gmail-wp-image-133109 gmail-size-full" src="https://www.thebetterindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ticket-counterss.jpg" alt="For representational purposes only. (Source: Facebook)" width="1200" height="628"><figcaption class="gmail-wp-caption-text">For representational purposes only. (Source: Facebook)</figcaption></figure>
<p>The weight of history on this demand is very heavy. There is
discontent in the South over the preference given to Hindi in official
discourse over other local languages. In fact, a reading of the mass
anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu is a good place to start.</p></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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