Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR)

Mangalore, Sep 4: Two important issues will be looming large before the current chief minister Kumaraswamy who will be relinquishing power to his deputy Yediyurappa on October 3 as per the power sharing equation worked out earlier between the respective parties.

Re-christening the cities of Karnataka:

By November, 2007 a whole lot of Karnataka cities will be renamed. Bangalore will be called as 'Bengalooru', the official spellings is yet to be confirmed for the same. Mysore will become 'Mysooru' and Mangalore 'Mangaluru'. Similar will be the changes in case of Tumkur, Raichur, Hiriyur, and so on. Shimoga will become 'Shivamoga'. In fact the Kannada version of the city's name had always been 'Shivamoga'.

In case of Belgaum however, the Central government has not accepted the recommendation to rename Belgaum as 'Belagavi'. The scenic city's amalgamation with Karnataka has not been dealt with by the Central government due to the long pending dispute with Maharashtra. Possibly this could be the reason why the Centre has decided not to touch the sensitive topic.

Karnataka state had for long kept a distance from the practice of regionalization of names of places. But of late, the state has opted for renaming with a sense of vengeance. There have been some voices raised against renaming Bangalore, as it serves as a brand name for Information Technology services. But very few of them will be openly opposing this move as there is always the possibility of hidden sparks of regionalism blowing into a major issue leading to law and order problems.

Beary Academy on the Anvil:

Very soon Karnataka’s unique ethnic and linguistic diversity will gain official recognition. The state government will be starting an Academy for Beary language in Mangalore, the founding state of Beary culture.

The history of Beary language can be traced back nearly one thousand years. The word 'Beary' is derived from 'Beypari' (literally businessman). Today the language is spoken by the Muslim community particularly those residing in South Canara district. The coastal area of Karnataka is a communal federation of people speaking Tulu, Konkani, Kodava and Kannada languages.

There are nearly 500,000 speakers of Beary language, some of them even in adjacent districts of Udupi, North Canara, Chikamagalur and Shimoga and hence there has been a constant demand for recognizing the language.

The state government has already opened academies for promotion and research of Urdu, Tulu and Konkani. So there is a growing awareness now, even among Beary people about their self-identity, with the spread of education. The educated members of the Beary community use Kannada language for written communication as not much literature is found in the language.

In recent years, however there is a rise in persons of stature like Moulana Mohammad Nouri, litterateur B M Idinabba, writer Abdulwahab Doddamane, politician B A Mohiuddin, novelist Sarah Aboobakar and businessmen like S M Beary, who have tried to assert their own distinctive identity as Bearies.

Beary people have been traditionally business men. Infact the term Beary is taken form the word 'Beypari' meaning businessman. Beary youth in hordes made a beeline for the gulf countries, following the economic boom out. This proved to be hindrance for  higher education. The youths of the community were more interested in getting their passports after completion of their studies up to the 10th standard.

As a result one may observe that with regard to this community not much progress has been made by the Beaury youth with regard to taking up of decent livelihood or setting up their own business ventures on a big scale. All these socio-economic factors of the community as well as rising new consciousness within the community are rapidly driving some well-known leaders to promote higher education.

Against this backdrop a Beary Academy may be a taken as a kind of symbol recognition. However the community needs to go beyond these token areas. It is the most backward amongst all the social groups in a region which is has a record for the highest literacy level and per capita banking. On the anvil are plans by the community leaders to start a ‘Beary Peetha' meaning a chair on Beary studies, in Mangalore University, which is indeed a inspirational development for the society.