Multinational companies in Karnataka will be asked to display on their premises the number of Kannadigas they employ, state's culture minister Shivaraj Tangadagi said on Wednesday. "In all industries there should be display board about how many Kannada people are working. Can’t include tech companies yet. We’ll discuss with officials," the minister told the state assembly. The minister was speaking on the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development (Amendment) Bill, which mandates having 60% of signage in Kannada, Tangadagi said that the government is making all efforts to promote the Kannada language across all sectors.
"There has been a discussion to ensure that industries put up display board on the number of Kannadigas they have employed. We will frame rules for that. A committee has been formed and I'm the chairman for it , we have secretary of many departments and they have given suggestions. We will discuss the rules for industries and MNCs and will form the rule."Tangadagi said that failure to comply with language requirements will result in the cancellation of licenses. Tangadagi added that the government's 'Kannada Kavalu' mobile app is being launched, through which citizens can raise complaints against individuals or organisations working against the interests of Kannada.
Earlier, Karnataka government had tabled the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development (Amendment) Bill 2024 to mandate 60 per cent Kannada on name boards of various establishments in the state, which will also have to display content in the language in the upper half of the signage. The Bill was introduced as an ordinance in the first week of January, days after pro-Kannada protesters resorted to violence in parts of Bengaluru over lack of Kannada on name boards. However, the ordinance was not cleared by Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot, who returned it to the government earlier this month and recommended tabling it as a Bill in the state legislature.