No Direction From State, Centre To Select Hindi Speaking Students For Tour Programme: Karnataka Minister BC Nagesh

Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh on Wednesday clarified that neither state nor Centre has directed to select Hindi-speaking students for the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" tour

Karnataka Education Minister BC Nagesh.

New Delhi: Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh on Wednesday clarified that neither state nor Centre has directed to select Hindi-speaking students for the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" tour, as a controversy sparked after it was reported that the Deputy Director for Pre-University Education Department (Bengaluru South) has sent such directions to the colleges. Nagesh has promised disciplinary action against official responsible for the confusion. 

Taking this to Twitter, the Education Minister wrote, "Neither Centre nor the state government has given instruction that knowledge of Hindi or English language were mandatory for students to take part in a tour programme to other states, as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav."

"Disciplinary action will be taken against the officer/staff responsible for this confusion," he added in his tweet.

ಭಾರತ ಸ್ವಾತಂತ್ರ್ಯದ ಅಮೃತ ಮಹೋತ್ಸವ ಅಂಗವಾಗಿ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಿಂದ ಹೊರ ರಾಜ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರವಾಸಕ್ಕೆ ತೆರಳುವ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಹಿಂದಿ/ಇಂಗ್ಲೀಷ್ ಭಾಷೆ ಜ್ಞಾನ ಕಡ್ಡಾಯ ಎಂಬ ಸೂಚನೆಯನ್ನು ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಸರ್ಕಾರವಾಗಲಿ, ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರವಾಗಲಿ ನೀಡಿಲ್ಲ.

ಈ ಗೊಂದಲಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣವಾದ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿ/ಸಿಬ್ಬಂದಿ ವಿರುದ್ಧ ಇಲಾಖೆಯಿಂದ ಶಿಸ್ತು ಕ್ರಮ ಕೈಗೊಳ್ಳಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ.

— B.C Nagesh (@BCNagesh_bjp) June 15, 2022

Reacting to the controversy, former CM HD Kumaraswamy demanded that the selection of Kannada students for the programme should happen else he threatened to hit the streets and protest. In a series of tweets, the JD(S) leader condemned the act.

The officer who issued such a betrayal order should be transferred & the order must be withdrawn. Kannada students must be compulsorily selected for the tour prgramme. Otherwise, we have to get on to streets and protest. 7/7#Kannada #Karnataka

— H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) June 15, 2022

50 students from Karnataka will be sent to Uttarakhand in a batch as part of the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" programme.